To Reach Across Time
by Kitsune Freak
Summary: Tsuna & his Guardians suddenly find themselves thrust in the past to fight the same enemy as the Vongola Primo. Now not only will they have to worry about getting back home, but also avoiding death at the hands of the suspicious 1st Generation Guardians.
1. Mist: Not an Illusion

KitusneFreak: I'm worried already, school will be coming up any moment and I'm already trying to write a long scale story. Still the lack of 1st Gen stories is bothering me! Well, to make up for my lack of posts, I'll just make each chapter longer so that I'll post less to finish the plot. That works out for everyone right?

Here is a 1st Gen / 10th Gen crossover. Granted, that plot has been done about… four legitimate times (without random OCs or newfound brothers etc.) but my new take on it with ALL the Guardians and not just Tsuna. Yes, Giannini, you have totally outdone yourself this time.

I'm probably not going to update this as regularly as 'Clams Much' (as in every other day) because this is a much different style of writing than I'm used to, but I'm currently working on chapter 2 so…yeah. I'm crossing my fingers here.

Disclaimer: Mou, if I owned it there would be several changes here and there, like more 1st Gen back story… I applaud the anime for taking that step despite the fact that they were fillers.

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

A flashing white light.

A searing pain shot through Chrome's shoulder. Mukuro just had to tire out at the worst possible time. She didn't know how it happened, but she knew for a certain fact that she was falling. Clutching onto her trident tightly she braced herself for the landing. The sweet aroma of flowers and spongy moss were the last things that she smelled and felt before she blacked out.

**..8.9.**

"Boss? I'm afraid to report an intrusion," said a man with a flaming red tattoo on his face as he burst through the oak doors of his boss' office.

"Where? And whose family is it from?" Giotto asked quickly, looking up from his paperwork.

"In the private gardens, it's a…" at that moment, the man, whose name was G, faltered.

Sensing his right hand man's discomfort, Giotto quickly stood up to head on over to the gardens, motioning for G to follow.

"Yes, G? Please continue."

"Actually, we have no idea what family she comes from."

Giotto looked up in surprise, "She?"

Women in the mafia were not exactly uncommon, Giotto reasoned to himself. However, sending one woman into the Vongola mansion that served as headquarters without backup either meant that she was exceptionally strong or just plain suicide. Sending a message from an enemy family perhaps? Wouldn't that be useless if they couldn't figure out what family she came from?

"Who did she engage in combat with?" Giotto asked, looking ahead as they neared their destination. The private gardens, in accordance to their name, were not exactly a place where everyone was privy to walk through. It was mostly a place reserved for the boss and his Guardians so that they could relax in private, or more likely, pass out highly classified missions without too many people knowing. For all Giotto knew, that woman was lucky to even have been found since it was used so rarely.

"That's the problem" G replied with a grimace. "No one claims to have done so. However, she's covered in fresh injuries which would make anyone guess that she's been in a bad fight."

"Where is she now?"

"Knuckle is currently attending to her wounds in the gardens, we planned on getting her transferred to one of the guest rooms later so that she wouldn't attract too much attention. It would be a problem if rumors started flying around of an attack or something of the like."

Giotto would have replied back to compliment his right hand man's clever thinking but they arrived at the spot where the mysterious woman was found. Even with Knuckle bent over to attend to the injuries, the woman still was a sight to see.

She looked to be only in her early twenties. A black skull ornamented eye patch covered her right eye. From what Giotto could see, the gash on her shoulder was the worst of her injuries, the scratches and scrapes that covered the rest of her were like paper cuts in comparison. Even while unconscious, Giotto mused at how tightly she was still able to clutch onto her trident, her only visible weapon. Left hand over her right, it appeared as though she were just a child who was holding onto the only doll that she owned. _'Perhaps a dear possession?_'

However, Giotto was brought out of his reverie when the golden glow emitted by Knuckle' ring dissipated. The man in priestly attire promptly stood up, turning to his boss.

"I've managed to get her to stop bleeding."

"How about the rest of her injuries?" Giotto asked, taking mild notice of the fact that the woman wore a black dress suit with heeled boots.

"Except for the injury to her shoulder, the rest are all healed. However, I would prefer to bandage it tomorrow morning to prevent any damage to the skin that just healed over."

The three men stood around the woman, with varying levels of puzzled looks on their faces as they all wondered who she was, where she came from and why she ended up at the Vongola mansion in such a terrible state.

After a while G broke the silence, "I guess we ought to be taking her up to the guest rooms then?"

Stooping over, G picked up the girl and carried her bridal style and walked a little ways before turning back to the other men.

After a moment's pondering, Giotto strode up with Knuckle trailing behind. "I think it'd be best if she were placed in the guest rooms that are closer to the Guardians"

"Why would you want to do that, Giotto?" Knuckle asked worriedly, "What if she is part of an enemy family?"

"Then there's all the more reason to keep her where we can make sure that she isn't up to anything."

The three men proceeded in silence, and Knuckle only left the group at times to attend to the stares that they received from various subordinates. It was something mostly along the lines of a 'do not worry and don't mention that you saw this to anyone'. However, it was easier said than done, especially when the unconscious woman that G was carrying had some blood streaking her white blouse. Indeed, it was one of those few moments when Giotto wanted to disappear into a wall and lament the fact that they sometimes had one too many subordinates sprinkling the hallways. Nonetheless, he remembered to keep an impassive and calm face, lest it should betray worry.

**..8.9.**

"Rokudo-san!" Giannini cried out in fear as he saw the tall mist illusionist collapse on the hard floor.

Fuuta quickly rushed over in equal surprise and a certain level of dread. He knew that Mukuro often preferred to close his eyes while standing when taking control of Chrome's body but collapsing has never occurred before.

"Mukuro!" Fuuta shook the illusionist but no avail.

Cursing inwardly, he slung the older man over his shoulder as he made a rush for the medical ward.

'_Tsuna-nii is going to freak out if I screw this up_'

For the most part, since the past half year, bargaining with the Vendice actually lead to the release of the infamous Rokudo Mukuro. There might have been many strings attached to the release, but for the most part, things seemed to have taken a turn for the better. Even though Mukuro still openly talked about possessing the Vongola Decimo's body in order to destroy the mafia (much to Gokudera's explosive anger and Tsuna's exasperation), everyone slowly grew to see it as an empty threat. In the short six months, though the mist illusionist would rather die than admit it, he was grateful and very much surprised that Sawada Tsunayoshi would do so much to help a 'truly cruel' enemy like himself.

After spending years floating in a tank, the great Rokudo Mukuro, needless to say, didn't exactly have complete control of all his motor skills when he went free. Wincing slightly, Fuuta remembered the general uproar that was created when Mukuro was put under the equivalent of house arrest for an entire year by Tsuna in order to protect the illusionist from harm. He was not to enter combat until the year was up and his physical combat abilities in addition to his motor skills have all been regained. In the meantime, if he wanted to somehow enter combat, he had to settle with using Chrome's body as a vessel.

With the medical ward looming ahead, Fuuta was snapped out of his reverie and shoved the door open surprising Bianchi, who was inside tending to several injured….were those…. ex-disciplinary members?

Looking up and nodding quickly, the pink haired woman led Fuuta out of the medical ward and into one of the private patient rooms.

"What happened?" Bianchi asked, deftly putting the mist illusionist into the bed and covering him slightly with the sheets.

"I have not the slightest idea Bianchi-nee," Fuuta scratched his head. "If I'm not mistaken, he was in the midst of possessing Chrome's body to help in her fight but halfway through he just collapsed without warning. Giannini is still trying to reestablish the connection between headquarters and Tsuna-nii."

"If that's the case, we must assume the worst and believe that Chrome, along with Mukuro, is out of commission," Bianchi said grimly as she bit the nail of her thumb.

Glancing worriedly between Bianchi and Mukuro's unconscious figure, Fuuta back tracked towards the door. "I should get back to help Giannini, if anything should happen, tell me okay, Bianchi-nee?"

**..8.9.**

Panting heavily, Tsuna along with his Guardians took cover behind a wall of boulders. He looked around to assess the situation. Even though they tried to take this fight as far away as possible, it somehow ended on the outskirts of the Vongola estate. Only the natural landscape was giving them the upper hand at this point. Everyone that should have been there was present. There was Gokudera checking his supply of dynamite and making sure that shields of his CAI system held up enough protection for them all. Yamamoto was looking from behind the boulders to see where the enemy was. Ryohei was wounding another layer of bandages around his fists. Lambo was left back at the mansion headquarters along with Hibari so they could oversee the grander plan of keeping out the enemy.

It took only a moment before a feeling of dread made his stomach lurch when he realized that Chrome was missing. Wait; there _had_ been a bright flash of white light earlier.

'_Oh dear god, please let that not be an attack. What if Chrome was injured, or worse, dead?_'

"Yamamoto, do you see Chrome anywhere?"

"I thought she switched places with Mukuro earlier." Yamamoto asked puzzled, but looked over anyway. "Either way, I see no signs of any of them."

If there was a word to describe the myriad of feelings Tsuna was feeling at that moment, it probably would have been very much along the lines of dread.

**..8.9.**

A bright ray of light filtered through a crack in the curtains as it made its way across the unprotected eye of Chrome. Still she chose to keep her eyes closed. The gentle way with which a pair of hands tended to her painful shoulder was soothing to say the least. However, she stiffened just a tad when she heard unfamiliar voices.

"–uckle and I were walking," a voice said, "and it was only by chance that we had stumbled upon her in a bed of flowers clutching that trident."

'_Are they talking about me? Wait, then where am I?_'

"She looks so young. Too young to be drawn into the works of the mafia," another voice commented softly.

'_Bossu? No, he definitely has a different voice, yet so similar in tone…_'

A pain in her shoulder caused her to inadvertently wince and her visible eye flashed open.

"Oh, you're awake I see."

Chrome quickly utilized the moment to look at the speaker before her eyes widened in shock. It took every ounce of her being to prevent herself from uttering the word 'Bossu'. The similarities were uncanny. He had blonde hair instead of the chocolate brown that she was used to. Despite the softness that she thought she heard in his voice earlier, his face now betrayed no such mercy. It was cold and emotionless.

'_Kind of like Cloud-man's_' Chrome mused, frowning internally.

Seeing the fear that was coming from the woman, Knuckle directed her attention back to himself. "Sorry about earlier, I didn't realize I hurt you, but the good news is that you're all patched up now and ready to go!"

Chrome turned her attention to the man who was tending to her wounds beside her before uttering ever so eloquently a single, "Huh?"

The man attending to her, she noticed, had a bandage across the nose, and pitch black dark hair. A lengthy red sash hung across his shoulders and draped across his front. Overall, he seemed rather priestly in appearance.

"A priest?" Chrome asked tentatively.

"The name's Knuckle, what's yours?" the man, now identified to Chrome as Knuckle, extended his hand to her as if to shake it.

"It's… uh… it's… Chrome," responded, shyly looking away as she took the hand. Apparently she gave up on shaking it in her shyness and ended up just holding the hand before letting go.

The blonde haired man cleared his throat. "You were found on these premises injured. Do you mind explaining how this came to be?"

"I… don't know."

The man with red hair and an intricate red tattoo on his face walked from behind the blonde and spoke up suddenly, much to Chrome's surprise. "Not a single thing? Surely you at least remember how you got here or even how you got your injuries."

Chrome weighed her options carefully, deciding on how much she should tell them.

"I was fighting… with my friends… Some people attacked us." She took a deep breath. "All I remember was a bright light…and then you …helped…me."

Giotto's hyper intuition nagged at him. He could tell that this woman wasn't telling the whole story. Still, whatever part that she did decide to share, didn't feel to be a lie. Still, he wouldn't push it – for now at least.

"I'd recommend for you to get some rest. Knuckle will be back to check up you later." Turning, he made for the door with his right hand man following swiftly behind him. Her voice stopped him abruptly as he reached for the handle of the door.

"Thank you…."

Without turning, the blonde answered the expectant pause evenly, "Giotto." And he left.

"Thank you, Giotto."

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

KitsuneFreak: How was it? I tend to limit my stories in the humor department and it's one of my first tries at a more serious plotline. Nothing like angst, though, I just hate those. I will put in the humor soon, I promise, I just need to get the plot skeleton down.

I thought it was nice to start with Chrome; she never really gets major screen time.

GAH, I just finished watching episode 197. Noooo, Hibari are you OKAY? As you can tell, I haven't read the entire manga; I just got to the Mukuro arc.

Anyway, here comes the redundant R's.

R&R!

Toodles!


	2. Rain & Sun: Wash and Shine the Confusion

KitsuneFreak: And here is chapter 2. I debated for a while, who I should pull for this and settled with two people since it makes way for much more plot speed. Plus, wouldn't _you_ get tired of reading redundancies? Travel back in time, found injured, OMG what happened, lather, rinse and repeat. You'll only have to endure this torture one more time. Next chapter will have the last set of time travelers.

See what I mean? I just summed up my entire chapter for you. Well now that wasn't smart. Still, it's more fun to read it for yourself right? Hope you enjoy it! Just to let you know, I may make references to my earlier 1st Gen fic, 'Clams Much?' but I'll keep it to a minimum so you can read without too much confusion. My mind makes me believe that the foundation for this story should start with 'Clams Much'.

Despite the fact that this story assumes that everyone is speaking Italian, I couldn't drop certain nicknames because I felt as though that would really take away from the personality and habits, so you can just assume, that characters do sprinkle Japanese names and suffixes in their Italian. In response to a few questions, this is post Millefiore Arc but before the Guardians actually reach the age of 25. So I'd say they're all around the ages of 22 give or take. In the fight scenes that are occurring, all of the guardians are wearing suits, so it would kind of be like during the Choice battle if that gives you a better mental picture.

Prior to posting, I didn't realize that my page breaks would be edited my FF, but if you see '..8.9' in bold, then you should have probably already figured out that it will serve as my page break. I'm too lazy to change my habits.

Disclaimer: (Checks local copyright listings) Nope, I see I still don't own it yet.

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

The fighting dragged on longer. Tsuna felt helpless at that moment. All of his other Guardians were capable of fighting. It wasn't that he was majorly injured or anything, rather, except for the X-Burner, he was primarily a close range combatant. In addition, given their heavily forested location outside of the Vongola estate, the X-Burner would just bring more problems to their current situations.

Tsuna shook his head. No. He was a mafia boss, now! He can't start regretting in the midst of a battle and shift back into No-Good Tsuna. He had to do something. Motioning for his other Guardians to draw their attention back towards him he laid out a plan.

"Yamamoto and Onii-san, I want you two to pair up and attack the enemy group from the left. After breaking through, Gokudera-kun and I will take the right. From what we can see, so long as we can knock out that party right now, then we can stem their flow of reinforcements and backup."

"So it's going to be an all-or-nothing, eh?" Yamamoto asked, grimacing at notion.

"Baseball-idiot, it's either that or we get pushed back to headquarters," Gokudera retorted in response, but with no malice in his voice. His mind was much too concentrated on the battle before him. It was only a manner of habit nowadays that Gokudera hadn't yet gotten rid of.

"All right let's go."

Nodding quickly, the four split up into their designated pairs. Yamamoto and Ryohei took the lead from the left, serving to break the wall of attackers. Successful, they gave the signal back for Tsuna and Gokudera. Having broken through their right line of defense as well, the battle between the two sides became almost the equivalent of an every-man-for-himself mêlée – chaotic to say the least.

"How you holding up there, Ryohei?" Yamamoto called, back to back with his senior.

"Extremely well, thanks for worrying," Ryohei gave a short laugh before launching an array of punches at the three unlucky men on his right. "I'm almost jealous of your weapon."

Mowing down two more men with the blunt end of his sword, Yamamoto raised an eyebrow in amusement, "Oh? I find it more difficult because I have to keep track of which side to hit them with."

"Same as always with you, huh? Don't kill them unless there is an extreme need for it. Well then," Ryohei started as he pounce-punched another lackey, "I guess I'll extremely boast my good luck for only having my fists!"

Both men laughed aloud for a quick moment before getting serious again. For the next several minutes they repeated the same process of staying back to back and only leaving for a few seconds in order to take down some other fighters. Despite the fact that they were holding up okay, it was clear that if it dragged out any longer, they would both collapse. Wounds from the previous confrontation added to the general injury and blood loss. Even staying conscious would soon become a problem. It also didn't help much that their opponents were also armed with an array of long distance weapons, primarily guns. Yamamoto, as a result, was forced to serve as defense for both himself and Ryohei. He cut down many of the bullets and other projectiles that came in their way.

Looking up, Yamamoto found that Tsuna and Gokudera didn't seem to fare any better than they were. Also back to back, the boss and his right hand man fought off their own horde of fighters. However, looking back towards Tsuna was a dangerous mistake on Yamamoto's part. One of the men that had previously fallen had somehow snuck past their perception and had thrown a particularly large rock at Ryohei. Too late; he couldn't stop it from colliding with the boxer's head. Ryohei soon fell to the ground, having lost consciousness, and there was a little blood trickling from where the rock had hit.

Cursing mentally, Yamamoto quickly slung the boxer's arm over his shoulder and made his retreat, yelling back at Tsuna to do the same. Tsuna's flame orange eyes widened at the sight of his Sun Guardian's limp form and grabbed Gokudera's shoulder, motioning for him to retreat as well as Yamamoto and Ryohei ran deeper into the forest.

Inevitably, the two parties were separated, having retreated from two different routes. Tsuna turned back one more time to reassure himself that his Sun and Rain Guardians were going to be just fine. They had already talked about where they would meet if they were separated. However, Tsuna's eyes widened in horror as he saw a bright white light suddenly engulf the retreating figures and when the light dissipated, the two men were gone with it.

**..8.9.**

Frowning distastefully at her bloodied blouse, Chrome stood from the side of her bed in order to peer into the closet. She hoped that there was something in there that would at least make her look a little more presentable. In addition to her ruined blouse, her dress suit sported several tears and rips.

"If I told anyone that I fell out of a tall tree and struck every branch on the way down, I wouldn't doubt that everyone would believe me," Chrome chuckled to herself.

Thankfully, the closet held both men and women's clothes of varying sizes. Mostly, they consisted of various styles of business suits.

"Jeez," Chrome frowned, "so professional."

It didn't take her long to find a dress suit similar to hers. She tossed off her old clothing on the long couch and put the new suit on. The only difference now was that it was a creamy beige color and the blouse was black. Fiddling with the hem of her skirt, she straightened it out. In doing so, she caught sight of her Vongola mist ring.

'_Funny, if they're aware of the mafia, then why did they treat me so hospitably? My ring clearly shows that I'm Vongola…_'

Chrome closed her eyes as she tried to figure out the reason. There wasn't any, was there? Is it all a setup? Fake hospitality to find openings in her defense?

'_Wait._'

As she sat back on the side of her bed, her eyes soon rested on her trident. She remembered waking up clutching onto it even after Knuckle had left. She didn't even realize her own death grip on the item.

'_So they didn't notice it because I was covering the ring with my left hand. Still, it's better to be safe._'

Slipping off her ring, she tore a neat strip of her destroyed blouse. Weaving the cloth tightly around her ring she made room for a loop and tied a knot before putting it around her neck. Stuffing the ring-turned-necklace inside her blouse, her eyes wandered back to the trident.

"Hmm," Chrome mused, "I don't think I'll be able to carry this around like before."

Leaning over to pick up her trident, she detached it cleanly into four pieces. Looking around, she reached out to take the roll of bandages that the priest had left behind. Carefully, she wound the bandages tightly around the pieces of her weapon till she was sure that it wouldn't disassemble. Giving a small smile she cradled the trident in a manner not unlike that of a mother to her baby.

Three knocks on her door, startled Chrome. "C—come in."

The door opened to reveal Knuckle, who waved a simple greeting. "Good morning! I hope you had a nice sleep?"

Chrome only nodded shyly in reply. She looked out her open curtains for a moment, it was pretty early. She'd have guessed that at the latest it would be around 6 because the sun was only high enough in the sky to give the small light of dawn. She probably would have continued staring out the window (and conveniently ignore the priest) but her stomach loudly protested.

Knuckle watched the girl the entire time, and grinned widely when he heard her stomach's wail for sustenance. He saw the girl's visible eye grow wide as a blush spread across her face, and tried to suppress his chuckles in order to not seem rude. This girl was just too cute and funny.

"Despite the fact that it's very early for breakfast, you can still come with me to the dining room. After all, you didn't eat dinner."

He offered his hand and waited for the girl to respond. Chrome, having finally recovered from her momentary flush of embarrassment, shifted her eyes to the side before standing up, still cradling her trident. She moved to stand next to him, but didn't take the hand.

"Bringing that along?"

Chrome only nodded in response.

"Alright."

Both walked down the quiet halls. There weren't that many people wandering around because it was still rather early. For the most part, Chrome was rather happy that the man, Knuckle, wasn't trying to make conversation with her because, for one, she hadn't yet figured out how she would respond, and two, she was busy trying to find mental contact with Mukuro.

'_Mukuro-sama?_'

No response.

Chrome's sigh was noticed by Knuckle who kept an eye on her the entire time. The priest recalled the conversation that he had with Giotto the previous night.

"_Tomorrow morning you should be the one to greet her._"

"_Any reason for it in particular?_"

"_Considering you're position as a priest, she may open up to you better. I did notice that she felt rather relaxed around you._"

"_I doubt it. What's the real reason? It probably isn't just a tour of the place._"

_Giotto_ _chuckled_, "_At the very least, we still need to find out about her whereabouts. Who she is, and from what she said earlier, who her friends are and how many are there of them._"

"_Is it necessary to do this so early? She came in injured._"

"_Not a single tear, nor a cry of pain – the tolerance that can only come after years of actually doing battle. You saw for yourself, that injury wasn't light. She isn't as delicate as she seems._"

_Knuckle let out a sigh. "Guess I'm not the only one who's worried."_

"_Whether or not she was attacked, I can't be sure. However, I can say for sure that she attacked back and competently at that."_

Knuckle ran a hand through his hair at the memory. It frustrated him that he had to be on guard around this innocent looking girl. All appearances considered, she still seemed to be just a girl.

'_Don't forget, she may just look innocent. I still need information._'

Clearing his throat, Knuckle asked, "You said earlier that you and your friends were attacked."

Chrome looked up at him before replying softly, "Yes, we were."

"Do you think they'll be alright? I mean, you were able to somehow get here where it's safer."

"I believe they'll be okay. They can take care of themselves."

Knuckle glanced at the girl's gentle expression. '_So they can fight too, huh?_'

"Who were you with? Family members? Friends?"

"They're friends, but I consider them family."

"I see." He paused for a moment before continuing, "After last night, do you think you can tell us what happened? We really want to help, especially if those people are coming after you."

The girl's eyebrow raised in response to his question.

Knuckle eyes widened apologetically, "I'm sorry if I brought up a terrible memory, and it was so recent too."

"They aren't dead," Chrome's voice took on a new confidence, "all four of them will be alright."

Her voice dropped off to a whisper, "I'm not just sure of it. I know it is true"

'_So there are four._'

Chrome was starting to feel edgy to say the least. She made an effort to not show it and hide it behind an impassive visage. This man was prying too much into incidents that even _she_ wasn't too clear about. One minute she was fighting (or rather, Mukuro was, Chrome corrected herself) and the next she woke up on a bed having her injuries tended to. Her only memory of what happened in between was falling and the scent of flowers.

The double doors that led to the dining room loomed before them.

"Here's the dining room. Wait here for a moment; I'll have one of the maids prepare breakfast for you. "

As Knuckle left to fetch a maid, Chrome had a fleeting sense of déjà vu because the doors looked so much like the ones back at the Vongola mansion. She shook it off immediately. Stupid European style, why did they all have to seem so similar in design? Still, she walked down the room. It was long, considering the length of the table itself. Her hands trailed on the mahogany table and passed the chairs as well. She drew invisible circles in the wood to amuse herself and continued do so as she walked down the long table.

'_Still…It's so familiar._'

A splotch of red at the end of the dining table caught her attention.

'_Red?_'

She stopped her drawing and moved quickly, but cautiously towards the location of the splotch. Two bodies, fallen over and both were face down. One had raven black hair and the other had white hair. From the looks of it, the white haired one had been carried by the raven haired one.

'_It couldn't be…_'

Chrome's felt a shiver down her spine as she saw an all too familiar bamboo sword. Her eyes darted to the men's right hands which were splayed ahead of them. She felt something drop in her stomach as she saw the rings of the Sun and Rain. Chrome rushed forward to check their pulses while noticing that they were, indeed, breathing.

'_Pulse seems okay._'

At the sound of footsteps approaching, despite being so startled the mist illusionist kept enough wits about her to simultaneously slip off both of the Guardians' rings and pocketed them. She heaved an arm from Yamamoto and an arm from Ryohei around her neck before half-carrying and half-dragging them to the double doors.

"Breakfast will be here in—"

Knuckle stared in a mix of surprise and confusion at the sight before him. The girl, having noticed him, held her hands out to him with an imploring look in her eyes. However, the stranger thing was the appearance of two men that he had never seen on the grounds of the Vongola estate.

"Please, they're my friends…" the girl started.

Injured and clearly unconscious from the blood loss, Knuckle wasted no time in the healing and rushed to their side immediately. As his concentration rose, a warm yellow glow enveloped both of the men as he sought to stop the bleeding and close up the worst of the wounds.

**..8.9.**

"Keep searching!" G yelled at a group of his subordinates, "I don't plan on going back till we find something."

G lit a cigarette as his eyes scanned the forested area around him. After Knuckle had left, Giotto had called him into his office as well. He remembered passing the priest as he was walking out.

"_G, I want you to take a few of your men and search the forested outskirts of the estate."_

_G raised his eyebrow questioningly._

"_That girl was in battle. And if she stumbled here to escape, then the battle site must be close," Giotto continued._

"_Why don't you send Alaude? He has much better resources for wide area searches."_

"_He doesn't know of this situation yet considering that he's still on his way here from his mission in France. I don't want to put off the search until then."_

G let out another sigh. He didn't see how any fight would be able occur on the outskirts of Vongola territory and still not be noticed by anyone. For the most part, the areas that have been checked were all clear of any abnormalities.

"For all we know, she could have just popped out of nowhere," G grumbled to himself. He didn't like the lack of information, and being unable to find any more was frustrating. He took out his silver handgun and began to polish it absentmindedly. His eyes scanned the area one more time.

"This area's clear," G called out to his men. "Let's move to the next!"

**..8.9.**

"Will they be okay?" Chrome asked tentatively, pulling pieces of her biscuit off. Despite having picked apart the biscuit into many bite sized pieces, she left every single one of them on her plate. Worry practically destroyed whatever appetite she had left.

"They've stopped bleeding," Knuckle used his free hand to wipe the sweat off his brow on the back of his sleeve.

Chrome nodded back slowly, finally putting one piece of the biscuit in her mouth. She chewed it slowly as an idea ran through her head.

"E—excuse me?"

Knuckle looked up from his efforts, "Yes?"

"Ca—can we take them back to… to my room?" She gestured around to their dining room setting.

Knuckle looked out of one of the windows and saw the sun going higher, shedding more light on the world. In a few more minutes, the room would soon be filled with people.

"Alright. You carry him and I'll," he threw the white haired man's arm around his shoulders, "take this one."

Both pairs staggered back to the guest room with Knuckle leading and Chrome trailing behind. Thankfully for them, it was still early and the hallways were empty. Reaching their destination, Chrome and Knuckle filed in and shut the door quickly behind them. Chrome used a hand to swipe off her bloody clothing from the couch before laying Yamamoto down. She also set down the bamboo sword that she remembered to bring along. Glancing over to Knuckle, who was currently laying Ryohei on the bed gently, she slowly slid the sword under the couch out of sight.

'_Can't hurt if he never noticed it in the first place._'

**..8.9.**

"Gokudera-kun, I want you to stay here and not leave my sight."

Startled by his boss' sudden command, he looked at Tsuna. "Something the matter?"

"You saw that white light, right?"

"I noticed it, but I have no idea where it came from. It happened twice."

"I know. The first time it happened, Chrome went missing."

"Jyuudaime," Gokudera reached out a hand to pat Tsuna's shoulder, "I believe you're over thinking it."

Leaning his back against a tree, he pulled up his legs to hug them. Tsuna frowned inwardly. Some habits were just too hard to kick. "I wish I was."

"What do you mean?"

"When we made our retreat, I looked back at Yamamoto and Onii-san. When the white light flashed again, they were gone."

Gokudera's eyes widened but remained speechless.

"I don't want to think about what could have happened. I can only hope that they're okay." Tsuna let out a sigh and uncurled himself from his previous position.

"Gokudera-kun, how are your wounds?"

"Che," Gokudera tore off a portion of his shirt sleeve –after having been relieved of his jacket during the scuffle – and roughly bandaged the cut on his bleeding arm "nothing I can't handle. You?"

Tsuna looked his injuries over. He, too, sported an assortment of cuts and soon-to-be bruises. Following Gokudera's example, his took off the jacket of his suit and started tearing it to use as cloth. From the looks of it, they won't be getting Bianchi's medical care for awhile.

The two men bandaged themselves in silence. The most important part right now was to stop the bleeding. Once that was complete, they would move to the area where they had planned to meet Yamamoto and Ryohei in case they were separated.

"Let's go."

**..8.9.**

Groggy eyes opened and Yamamoto groaned in pain as he put a hand over his eyes.

"What happened?"

He pulled his hand back only to be startled by violet eyes…or rather just one violet eye and the other had a skull eye patch over it. Chrome had unwittingly put her face right in front of Yamamoto's in her anxiousness.

"Whoa there," Yamamoto blinked, "Chrome is that you?"

Having realized their closeness, Chrome blushed a little and moved back quickly to seat herself on the low coffee table.

"Thank goodness you're okay."

Getting up to properly sit on the couch, Yamamoto flashed his signature smile. Turning his head he asked, "Do you know where Ryohei is? I was carrying him before I passed out."

Chrome looked over to the sleeping figure on the bed. Yamamoto's gaze followed hers.

"I see, so you treated him too…" Yamamoto gave another carefree grin, "How lucky!"

"Actually, I didn't."

"Eh?"

"He's not here right now. Knuckle left because he said he had to meet someone."

"Knuckle? That's such an interesting name!" Yamamoto chuckled, "Sounds familiar, but I can't really put my finger on it."

Chrome only smiled and shook her head at the Rain Guardian's cheerfulness.

"Chrome?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you know where my shigure kintoki is?"

"Under you."

"Wha—?"

Yamamoto bent his head down to look between his legs. Chrome held back a giggle from seeing Yamamoto's less-than-dignified position. The baseball fanatic reached under and pulled out his weapon. His eyebrow quirked up in confusion.

"You hid it?"

"I thought it would be better if they didn't know that you had a weapon. I'd recommend keeping it out of sight when they're around for a while."

Yamamoto's confused grin morphed into one of seriousness.

"So we're still not out of the woods yet."

"It seems so."

A silence hovered between the two Guardians. Chrome suddenly remembered the rings that she had confiscated when she had absentmindedly put her hands in her pockets. Reaching over to pick up the torn blouse from the ground she tore two strips.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking precautions."

Chrome took out the rain ring and began to wrap and loop it in the manner with which she wrapped her own mist ring. Yamamoto continued to watch her in silence. Completed, Chrome held out the necklace to Yamamoto.

"Here. Wear it like this instead. It should be safer."

Tossing it around his neck, Yamamoto grinned, "Thanks!"

"Umm…"

"Yeah?"

"There're a few suits in the closet and a bathroom over there. If you … you know… want to …change or something."

Chrome blushed a bit at the notion, but shook her head and pulled out the sun ring. She wrapped it as well before slipping it back in her pocket. She would give that to Ryohei later. Yamamoto, taking Chrome's advice laughed a bit before making his way to the closet to pick out his new presentable wardrobe. After changing in the bathroom Yamamoto came out as he loosened his tie comfortably and plopped himself back onto the couch.

"EXTREME hangover!"

Yamamoto and Chrome's eyebrows simultaneously raised in amusement.

"It seems as though he's awake," Chrome giggled.

"No Ryohei," Yamamoto laughed as he spoke, "It's not a hangover. You were hit by a rock to the head."

Ryohei sat up quickly and rubbed the area that had been hit. "Oh…well then, EXTREME rock pain!"

The comment only led the jovial laughter of the mist and rain guardian to get louder. Despite their belief that they were deep in dangerous "enemy" territory, their sun guardian never ceased to shine into their world.

**..8.9.**

"What do you mean there are two more?" Giotto paused in his writing and looked up at Knuckle.

"When I was going to get breakfast for Chrome, I came back and she was carrying two injured men whom she claimed to be her friends."

"I see…" Giotto's voice trailed as he was lost in thought.

"From what I was able to figure out, she was with four people"

"That means that there are two more yet to show, that is, _if_ they show."

Knuckle let the silence grow between them as he wondered how he ought to deliver his next bit of information.

"From what I can tell based on the injuries," Knuckle started, "the fight they were in is probably still ongoing."

Giotto brought his attention back in alarm, "What?"

"The girl only suffered a gash to the shoulder. These two are much worse compared to her."

"You're sure of this?"

"Very much."

Giotto cleared his desk in an attempt to clear his head. He sighed, "Where's Asari and Daemon now?"

"Daemon has probably disappeared to God knows where. Asari, on the other hand, is probably in the library if not on his way there. He said something about needing to find information on flutes."

"Well, call Asari out and have him on guard. I do not want any unnecessary battles occurring on the estate."

"Understood."

**..8.9.**

"So, we have extremely no idea where we are or who they are."

"Yes."

"And we have to take extreme precautions so that they are not suspicious of us."

"Mhmm."

"It's all extremely confusing!"

Cue two simultaneous sighs.

Ryohei scratched his head. He had already changed into a new outfit and discarded the old ones. His sun ring hung loosely around his neck since he had not yet stuffed it under his shirt.

"Well, whatever you want to think of it," Yamamoto started again, "just make sure that the ring is on your neck where they can't see it."

"Well now why didn't you just say that. Much easier to understand to the extreme!"

Chrome sighed again and shook her head at the simpleton. She couldn't help but smile whenever the sun guardian opened his mouth. The words that flew out were sometimes so outrageous it became undeniably believable.

'_Chrome.'_

Chrome stiffened at the sound of her name. She looked to the two other men who were joking back and forth with each other. They weren't the ones who called her.

'_Chrome!'_

Chrome shook her head. She wasn't hearing things, it was probably him.

'_Mukuro-sama?_'

Chrome waited patiently for a reply. However, after having waited for a few moments, she received no response again. She couldn't understand why she was unable to find or maintain contact with Mukuro.

'_Was I just hearing things?_'

**..8.9.**

"Jyuudaime, they're not here."

Tsuna sighed as he looked around again. There were no signs of Yamamoto or Ryohei anywhere.

"Is it possible that they were captured?" Tsuna asked.

"Anything is possible," Gokudera said slowly, "especially because we have no idea what that flash of light was."

Tsuna bit the bottom of his lip in frustration. "How about contact with headquarters?"

"Lots of static. I can barely hear Giannini's voice."

"Switch it over to Hibari-san. Give him a report of the situation. He might need to…"

Tsuna's voice trailed off as he looked around. His hyper intuition was sending off red warning flags. There was an attack coming.

Recognizing his boss' alertness, Gokudera readied his dynamites. "Guess the message will have to wait."

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

KitsuneFreak: I made Chrome exceptional, once again, in this chapter. I seriously don't think that she's all that of a weak girl. She is given much less credit than she deserves!

Ryohei, for some reason, is a hard character to write dialogue for. His extremes feel redundant but that is pretty much how he talks…

The reason why I didn't want the characters to reach 25 was because I wanted to leave box weapons out of the picture for awhile (assuming that they haven't been created yet). Box weapons leave too much room for…well… for lack of better terms…god-moding in the past.

Hope it was enjoyable; I did slowly start putting in the humor. I will add more to it as the story progresses.

R&R

Toodles!


	3. Storm: Trouble's Brewing in the Sky

KitsuneFreak: Sweet! I'm rolling out another chapter. I'm so glad that people were happy with the way the story is progressing. Thanks for your support!

Hmm, this chapter should have been longer than the last. I split it, but then I realized that I did promise that this chapter will have the last set of time travelers. I'm so sorry! At least you get a long chapter right? Would you rather wait a long, long, LONG, time for a lengthy chapter or two chapters within closer times? Actually, don't answer that.

Disclaimer: If I owned it, I wouldn't even be writing this fan fiction because it'd be in the manga…and the 1st GEN WILL FOREVER BE AWESOME. Ahem, if you'll excuse me.

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

"Oh no!" Chrome covered her mouth as a horrifying thought crossed her mind.

"What's wrong?" Yamamoto asked worriedly.

"I realize now that I accidentally…um… left my trident back in the dining room when I went to pick up your shigure kintoki."

"That cannot be good to the extreme!"

The hand that hand been covering Chrome's mouth moved higher to swipe her bangs up on her head before moving to rub her temple. Sometimes, she really didn't need the Sun Guardian's commentary on relatively obvious things.

"You guys wait here, I'll try…to go back and find it, I guess."

Chrome got up from her seated position on the couch and made her way to the door. She bit her bottom lip and she looked up at the ceiling in an attempt to remember the path that Knuckle had taken while on their way to the dining room.

"Wait, we're coming with you," Yamamoto called out, pushing himself with some difficulty from the couch. His injuries didn't render him completely immobile, but it did cause some pain when moving. Ryohei followed in suit right after, nodding his head all the while.

"But your injuries—"

"Nah, it's just a scratch! REAL men aren't held back by mere scratches!"

Yamamoto laughed at the older man's antics and added, "Besides if you get lost or something happens, we'll all be together, right?"

The Mist Guardian tilted her head to the side a bit as she raised a hand to her chin to ponder the question rather cutely. It did make sense. If something were to happen to her or the two men, whatever it may be, strength and support often found themselves in numbers. Relaxing her shoulders, Chrome smiled, "Alright then."

And together, the three friendliest Guardians of the Vongola family set off in search of the dining room, where their mission of retrieving the trident was held as the highest possible priority. Nothing could possibly stand in their way, even if it was a maze of hallways.

**..8.9.**

"_Guess the message will have to wait._"

Gunshots and explosions sounded over the small speaker system and there were also hints of metal clashing on metal followed by yelps of pain. Hibari frowned as he looked up from his work and at the device.

'_Strange, the other Guardians shouldn't be having that much trouble, even if they are indeed herbivores._'

It seemed as though Gokudera and the others never needed to contact Hibari. He had already bugged all of their communication systems so that each and every word said on the line would be recorded into his speakers. It even served as a method to listen in on things off the line as well. Sure, he didn't exactly get formal permission for doing such a thing, but the Cloud Guardian had deemed it 'necessary'. In other words, he didn't even bother to tell anyone other than Kusakabe of his bugging plans. From what Hibari could tell, each of Sawada Tsunayoshi's Guardians had been disappearing one by one and now the boss and his right hand man were the only ones left.

"What's going on?" Hibari thought out loud, absentmindedly scratching Hibird's head. Reaching over, he turned the volume dial a few notches higher to see if he could hear anything else that might prove useful.

"How could they have gotten reinforcements so quickly?"

"Jyuudaime, I don't think—"

"Watch out!"

Knocks were heard on the door. Looking up, Hibari quickly muted the volume before calling to the knocker to come in. The door was pushed open to reveal Fuuta looking rather worried.

"What is it?" Hibari asked, nonchalantly propping his chin up with a loose fist.

"Tsuna-nii and the others," Fuuta fidgeted slightly, "we've lost whatever little contact we had with them. Giannini has been trying to reestablish the connection for some time now but it hasn't been successful."

'_Oh really, you don't say_' Hibari thought wryly.

"With that herbivore as his technician, why am I not surprised?" Hibari gave an inaudible sigh before going back to his paperwork.

"Um, Hibari?"

The call didn't elicit a response from the independent Guardian.

"Really, Hibari, we need you to come over to the communications room. Giannini has something important this time."

"I don't like crowding," Hibari answered flatly, never bothering to look up.

Fuuta rolled his eyes at the Guardian's antics. Really, he could be so stubborn sometimes. Then again, Tsuna had already taught his adoptive little brother what buttons to push to get the job done.

"I wouldn't have called you if Mukuro was okay. After all, he was in charge on our end."

Hibari paused in the middle of his writing and looked up, his eyebrow raised in a silent question. It wasn't everyday that you heard that the mist illusionist fell sick or injured on the eve of battle.

"The pineapple-herbivore's out?"

"Sadly, yes. He's in the infirmary right now."

Hibari sighed heavily in annoyance and got up from his desk. Eavesdropping over the speakers was going to have to wait a little longer. He straightened his suit as he strode out the door muttering to himself all the while.

Fuuta smiled a bit as he caught something along the lines of 'Stupid pineapple, so useless!' as the Guardian passed by. In Fuuta's mind, Hibari was very reliable even though he was the independent cloud. Initially, it may have had something to do with Dino and the deal where if Hibari lost then he would have had to be a Guardian (to this day, Hibari vehemently denies the possibility of its truth). Of course, then it became a means to sparring with Mukuro or anyone else who offered a challenge in battle. Over time, however, Fuuta was pretty sure that he did care. Even if it was a tiny bit. It was almost as though the Vongola was some kind of extension of Namimori – or at least, that was how Fuuta saw it.

"Hey Hibari, wait up!"

It didn't take long to reach the communications room. As Hibari pushed the doors that led to the room a loud explosion sounded to his right causing him to wince and dart to the left. Still he became enveloped him in a cloud of pale smoke, and ultimately scattered him with a fine white powder.

"Phase 2 of mission accomplished!" Giannini declared putting down what looked to be a small cannon.

"_Excuse_ me?" Hibari growled through gritted teeth, his eye already twitching in annoyance.

"It was totally for your protection, Hibari!" Giannini cowered immediately, hiding himself under the table. "You were the only one last night other than Rokudo-san, who declined my new and improved protective powder shield. And look what happened to him!"

"I _will_ bite you to death."

Fuuta sighed and rubbed his temples as he walked in after Hibari, thankful to have missed being shot with the questionable 'stuff'. Giannini had, at some point in time, created what he deemed to be a 'protective' shield in the form of a powder, and somehow got it in his head that all the Guardians ought to get sprayed with the stuff.

"Giannini, didn't I already say that it was probably only a coincidence that Mukuro's in the infirmary?"

Looking up with an eerily knowing look on his face, the technician only replied with a, "You never know."

Needless to say, it took every fiber of Hibari's being to not pummel the technician with his tonfas right there and then. Instead, his self control redirected his anger at brushing off, rather forcefully, all the specks of white powder that stuck to his clothing. Hibari never liked Giannini, rather, he never like the fact that the little man was the technician for the Vongola family. Everything that he had created has always been unfailingly met by fatal flaws among other things. The Cloud Guardian had actually been quite pleased with himself for avoiding danger in the form of a little Italian man, but he never thought that he'd been outwitted in such a pathetic manner. No, he was never outwitted – the technician just used really low and dirty tricks.

"Remind me again why I'm here because I'm quite tempted to just leave," Hibari said acidly, his voice clearly holding back a load of suppressed annoyance.

"Well, we needed someone to take care of the leadership position that Rokudo-san had recently vacated," Giannini mumbled.

"Oh right, how could I forget a pathetic little herbivore's request?" Hibari responded sarcastically.

He was starting to regret about conceding to Fuuta's request.

**..8.9.**

"_Watch out!_"

Tsuna jumped forward quickly in order to push down his right hand man out of the path of a speeding bullet. The boss felt the bullet graze his shoulder. Judging from the light pain, it would not be deadly. Rolling to the side, Tsuna propped himself up with the help from a nearby tree.

"You alright, Gokudera-kun?"

Eyes wide and breathing heavily, Gokudera blinked a few times at his near-death encounter.

"I could have sworn I just saw my life flash before my eyes."

Tsuna bit back a laugh as his lips quirked into a smirk. It would have been rude to laugh, especially when Gokudera was completely serious. Silently, Tsuna reached his hand out to the Storm Guardian and pulled him over behind his cover of trees.

"I… am so indebted to Jyuudaime," the silverette muttered.

"Save it, Gokudera-kun, I can't keep track anymore," Tsuna commented back. He could care less how many times his right-hand man 'owed' him for having saved his life. After all, they were friends, and that's what friends did unconditionally.

Turning their attention back to their latest battle ground, Tsuna and Gokudera laid new plans on how to take care of all the attackers.

"Do you see what I see?" Tsuna asked, looking around the tree that served as his new shield.

"Of course, Jyuudaime."

In the fray, most of the hitmen who were attacking had unwittingly strayed out into the small clearing in the middle of the circle of the trees. It was relatively quick and easy at that point to have Gokudera fire his rocket bombs to the trees and have them all topple inwards and crush the attackers. There were a few agile hitmen who narrowly avoided the crush but most were rendered aptly immobile.

"Well, that should make things easier," Gokudera stood up, along with Tsuna and readied themselves to take down the last fifteen or so men that remained.

"Indeed."

With that note, Gokudera tore in the direction of a cluster of hitmen and dived right as he threw a set of bombs up high near their heads and down low at their feet, making escape rather difficult. Tsuna, on the other hand propelled himself midair at the next cluster of hitmen and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with them.

'_Why are these guys so stubborn to fall?_' Gokudera thought as he blocked a swipe down at his head from one of the hitmen. He wasn't expecting the sheer weight of the blow. Despite having blocked it, the man's force was so heavy that it brought the silverette down to one knee; however, it wasn't the ground that he was met with.

'_What the—_'

A pool of white light came up from the ground under him, enveloping his entire being, beginning with his feet. Gokudera felt the ground give way under him as he fell. He struggled to grab at anything that was near, but the sensation of being pulled down overpowered him.

**..8.9.**

"You know something?" Chrome's voice pierced through the surprisingly empty hallway. "I think we're lost."

"REAL men NEVER get lost!" Ryohei shouted punching his fist straight up into the air.

"Yup," Chrome continued dejectedly, "and he's in denial,"

"Maa, maa, it can't be that bad," Yamamoto laughed putting both his hands up to reassure the girl.

"We are extremely on the right path!"

"No, I'm sure. We're lost and I have no idea how to get back."

The three travelers stopped as the reached an intersection of the hallways. Now, in addition to their status as 'lost', they also had three possible paths to take, none of which looked particularly familiar.

"Hey," Yamamoto started, scratching his chin, "Don't you think that the design of this place is really similar to our Vongola mansion?"

"Yeah, I noticed it too," Ryohei commented looking up and around.

"Odds are, it's probably just a coincidence," Chrome muttered, "European styles tend to all be fancy enough."

"Here's an idea," Yamamoto said brightening, "let's pretend that this is the Vongola mansion, and walk around that way."

Chrome stared at the Rain Guardian in disbelief, "With all due respect Yamamoto, are you out of your mind?"

"Well, we are lost—"

"It's an EXTREME DETOUR!"

"Yes, yes. Since we are taking an extreme detour, it doesn't really matter where we go next since we can't find our way back, right?"

"I see your point…"

"At least this way, we can pretend as though we know where we're going."

"Guess that couldn't hurt too much. So… if this was back home, then where would we be?"

Punching his fist into the air Ryohei shouted, "I know where we are! I always run through these hallways on my morning in-house jog!"

Yamamoto and Chrome turned to look at the enthusiastic Sun Guardian and waited patiently for his next response.

"Yes, keep talking," Chrome waved her hand in front of the Sun Guardian.

"It's no good! I forgot to the extreme!"

Chrome pulled back her hand in order to smack her own forehead. She had forgotten about the Sun Guardian's questionable memory.

"But follow me! I will let my EXTREME FEET lead the way!"

And so, Yamamoto and Chrome were forced to jog behind the boxer and prayed that Ryohei's feet had a much better sense of direction than his head.

**..8.9.**

"Ugh, it's no good. I can't concentrate like this."

Giotto sighed dejectedly as he pushed the paperwork away for the fifth time that hour. Ever since Knuckle had come in reporting that there were two _more_ intruders, all hopes of finishing his paperwork quickly flew out the window. Getting up off his chair, the Primo stretched his limbs and began to arrange the incomplete paperwork into three neat stacks. Heaving another sigh, he strolled over near a window and looked out at the lush greenery that surrounded the Vongola mansion.

'_Will there really be an attack soon by that family?_'

Giotto's brow furrowed in his worry. It was bad enough that they had already been receiving a ridiculous amount of threats, but even then, it seemed too soon for an attack. If there was a skirmish anytime soon, he definitely didn't want innocent people caught in the fray. Preferably, he would take the fight as far away from the mansion as possible. It also didn't help that Daemon Spade was MIA and Alaude hadn't returned from France yet. G's currently searching for possible whereabouts of the strange girl.

'_Great_' Giotto frowned, '_Now, I have no idea how G's doing. Maybe it was a bad idea to send him off._'

Shaking his head, the blonde decided that it was a good time to go for a stroll outside of his office. Maybe the fresh air will clear his head a bit. After all, worrying never made any situation better.

"I should get a glass of water while I'm at it…" Giotto mused aloud, gently closing the doors behind him.

It didn't take him long to reach the dining room. The doors had been left ajar and some simple breakfast snacks were already on the table. He would have passed it and headed straight for the kitchen if it weren't for a strangely familiar glint.

'_What is that?_'

Giotto moved over and bent down to pick up the item that had fallen beside a leg of the table. It was that girl, Chrome's, weapon.

"She detached the trident?" Giotto asked, slightly surprised at the efficiency of the weapon. "Not bad."

He gave the weapon a more thorough inspection and turned it around several times. The intricate designs on the sharp ends were admirable and deserved praise.

'_Pity she's so careless with it. But then again, if my friends showed up bloody and beaten, I would probably leave my weapon behind too. Maybe._'

Placing the wrapped trident snugly in the crook of his arm, he made his way to the kitchen in order to fetch his glass of water. He would return to his paperwork once his thirst was quenched.

**..8.9.**

Asari hummed a bit to himself as he made his way to the library. He finally had enough time to check out that book on flutes that he wanted to read. It was one of those things that he always wanted to do but never got around to. While humming to himself, he noticed Knuckle walking rather hurriedly in front of him in his general direction.

"What's the matter Knuckle-san?" Asari asked, slightly worried at the priests body language.

"Giotto wanted me to inform you to be on your guard."

"Something wrong?" Asari's countenance shifted from worried to serious.

"Other than the fact that unidentifiable intruders have been showing up randomly, nothing yet."

"Intruders?"

"Yes. Giotto doesn't want you to stop what you were doing since he knows that you haven't had that much time to read that book, but he does ask that you been alert and on your guard."

"Alaude's in France and Daemon's missing as usual. What about G?"

"G's been sent out a while back to look for some information concerning the intruders."

"Huh, alright. Thank you for the information. I'll be careful."

Knuckle smiled at the Japanese man before heading off in the opposite direction. "No problem. I'm off to tell Lampo now."

"Sure."

Asari gave a bright grin as he watched the retreating figure of the priest. After the man turned the corner and was out of sight, Asari continued on his way to the library. It was only a few more strides to go. Reaching the sight of familiar oaken doors, the Japanese man smiled and pushed them open. He knew exactly where that book would be. Reaching the aisle's bookcase, he brushed his index finger across the book spines and tried to locate the exact volume he wanted.

A strange sound caught his attention. Asari straightened and looked around to find the source of the noise. Actually, it wasn't noise per se, rather it sounded more like rough ragged breathing. Knuckle' warning echoed in his mind and Asari slowly reached into his sleeved for two of his three short swords. He prepared to turn when he reached the end of the bookcase. The breathing was coming from behind there.

"God. The wounds' have reopened!" came a frustrated groan.

Asari froze.

'_Wounds?_'

Instead, Asari's slightly protective side surfaced. While he didn't put away the two short swords, he did have complete intentions to help whoever it was that was unlucky enough to be injured. As he rounded the corner, he was surprised at what he saw.

Before him was a silver haired man, who was wounded rather heavily. His left hand covered a nasty looking cut on his abdomen while his right hand supported him from behind. He looked just about ready to collapse on the floor, if there was any indication from the way he was tiredly propping himself up from the ground.

"Here, let me help you," Asari slid the short swords loosely into his sleeve and rushed over to try and help the man into a seating position before he injured himself any further.

The injured man suddenly narrowed his eyes at him and shifted backwards defensively, "Who are you?"

"A person who's trying to help," Asari smiled slightly. He reached his hands out with his palms facing up, showing that he held no weapons. The man didn't need to know about the swords he hid on him. After staring at his palms for a moment, the injured man seemed satisfied enough and relaxed a bit. Asari's smile only widened as he reached out his left hand in order to pull the man up.

"Fine," Gokudera pushed himself off the ground in order to reach out his right hand to take the odd smiling man up on his offer.

As Asari's eyes glanced at the man's right hand his smile faltered and he stiffened. His hand curled back slightly.

"Nice ring you have there," Asari commented. "Where did you get it?"

"Long story," Gokudera replied, lifting his hand up to look at the ring. "Short version of it was that I won it in a battle some time ago."

"I could have sworn that I've seen the design of that somewhere."

"Impossible. It's the only one of its kind!"

Asari's hand, by this point had already slipped into his flowing sleeves, his grip tightening on his short swords. G had been sent to find the whereabouts of the intruders. G valued the storm ring that Giotto had presented him more than anything else he knew of. And here this bloody and heavily injured man sporting G's storm ring was casually talking about winning a ring in battle? G would never give up such a thing unless…

"I can't forgive you," Asari said quietly.

"What are you talking about?" Gokudera looked up in confusion but was forced to fall back down immediately as the man slashed horizontally at him.

"Holy —" Gokudera never managed to finish as another slash was aimed in his general direction. In a frantic attempt to avoid the blow, he rolled to the side and rammed into the base of a bookcase. Scrambling quickly, Gokudera half-crawled and half-ran from the – to him – crazy man. Catching side of large oaken doors, he changed direction and made a beeline for it. It didn't matter if it didn't lead outside; he just needed to get away from the demon at his heels. Pushing them open, he wondered a moment if the voices he heard was just a part of his now-stricken imagination.

"Are you guys liking the EXTREME workout?"

"Ahaha, I have to admit, I ought to join you sometimes when we get back home."

"Gah," Gokudera cursed, "Why must I hear those imbeciles at a time like this?"

It wasn't until he ran into and tripped over Chrome that he realized he wasn't quite dreaming.

"Oh my." Chrome could only utter from her squashed position underneath the silverette.

Turning his head upwards, he could make out the surprised grins of Yamamoto and Ryohei.

"Hey! It's Gokudera," Yamamoto beamed, "What are you doing here?"

"No time to explain. Gotta get away from _that_ guy," Gokudera jabbed a thumb back at Asari who was running at full speed in their direction.

"Well now that can't be good."

Yamamoto quickly reached out a hand to pull Chrome to a standing position before all four of them tore in a direction that they hoped, would lead them far away from the sword wielding crazy man.

**..8.9.**

"Gokudera-kun!"

Tsuna uselessly reached his hand out towards the place where his right hand man used to stand. It was no use; the bright white light engulfed him too. Now he was all alone and surrounded by people who probably had no intentions of wanting to take him in alive.

'_How could this get any worse?_' Tsuna thought derisively as he punched another hitman. Lucky for him, there were only about 9 or so hitmen left. Granted, they were harder to defeat because of their unique strengths, but that should never get in the way of a mafia boss.

'_No communication, missing Guardians, inability to use my X-Burner, copious amounts of blood loss…_' Tsuna continued to add to his mental list of things that went wrong every single time he managed to land a punch on some poor soul – which wasn't that hard actually. Still, the only big problem that held him back now was that he was bone-tired and his wounds dragged at him, causing him to slacken in form and slow down.

Tsuna didn't even know how he defeated the last of the remaining hitmen. One minute he was punching people around and the next he was leaning heavily against a tree trying to catch his breath. Consciousness was fading in and out at odd intervals, but the young man put all his effort into staying awake. He didn't even realize that he fell forward in his fatigue and a bright light soon was engulfing him as well.

'_A bright light?_' Tsuna thought groggily. At some point the whiteness that enveloped him faded slowly into color to reveal a dark, but well furnished room. A desk sported three tall stacks of paperwork.

'_Why can't somebody up there be much kinder to me?_' Tsuna mentally wailed, '_even up until my dying hour, must I __**still**__see the ominous stacks of paperwork that never seems to get any smaller?_'

**..8.9.**

Giotto strolled back to his room. He had finally satiated his thirst and felt somewhat refreshed enough to take on the heavy load of paperwork that sat at his desk. The trident was still nestled in the crook of his arm (he planned to return it to the girl the next time he saw her).

Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the doors and was met with surprise. A small boy –it looked to him—was curled up next to his desk. Upon closer inspection, Giotto mentally corrected himself. The small boy was actually a relatively petite man, if that was even possible. Giotto wrinkled his nose a bit at the scent of blood. Minus the blood, he had to admit, the kid looked like he was peacefully sleeping.

"Hey there," Giotto hesitantly shook the other man's shoulder.

The previously unconscious man blinked up wearily before looking confusedly at Giotto. His eyes fell on the silver tip of the trident before looking back at Giotto's face again. Eyes seemed to widen in realization and, to Giotto surprise, the man threw a forceful punch in his direction.

Thankfully, being a mafia boss led him to develop quick reflexes. He dodged the blow and jumped a little ways back and readied himself for the next attack that might come. Giotto felt his body tense as he saw the figure slowly push himself up with help from the desk and also ready himself in some sort of fighting stance.

'_Well,_' Giotto thought, '_Now this day couldn't have gotten any weirder._'

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

KitsuneFreak: I was in such a rush to post it this time (ideas are better NOT left floating in your head where they can get lost) that I didn't properly re-read over what I wrote. If editing is required, I'll probably swap the better version in after coming back from school. I need to go to sleep now. Goodnight!

Don't forget to R&R!

Toodles~!


	4. Thunder: The Subtle Wanderers

KitsuneFreak: Right! Here's another chapter for you all to enjoy! I had some questions in the reviews concerning Tsuna, but I made sure that I clarified any fuzzy spots with this chapter. If you see any odd plot fuzzes around, feel free to ask, it helps me patch up the holes anyway. I dislike plot holes as much as the next person.

I gave the Guardian's appearances some thought as a few readers had brought up. Don't they realize that they look uncannily similar? Well, so being the research fanatic, I pulled up pictures of the TYL generation and the 1st generation and compared them. Similarities yes, but the TYL generation is definitely different compared to the 1st gen. If they dressed identically and you put both of them in front of me, I would be able to tell Alaude and Hibari apart, and it wouldn't have been because of their hair color. So, while I will allude to similarities, it won't be like they're doppelgangers…except maybe Lampo & Lambo… I don't know, I'll see what I can do.

To be honest, writing the Tsuna-Giotto starting scene (among others…) was really hard for some reason. I blame it on my inability to write anything serious. Odds are when you read, you will be able to map out exactly where I cracked. Still, I guess it will be enjoyable for you. But anyway, for this plot, let's say that after Tsuna took the title as Decimo, the ring's dying will spirits do come out every once in a while to socialize, which would explain the familiar tone that Tsuna would use.

Last important question, does anyone mind it too much if I incorporate some serious personality points that I had created in 'Clam's Much' here? I find it easier to do that – going on 10th Gen assumptions is tiring.

Disclaimer: Owning it is still a distant dream…

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

Giotto felt his brow furrow in confusion despite the tense situation. It seemed as though his opponent, who had gotten into a fighting stance, was currently using his one of his hands to pat down his dress shirt and pants, his attention completely drawn away from Giotto. The other hand that was still tense in midair held a pair of…mittens?

'_Well, now __**that's**__ a new level of vanity. If I were him, I'd give up. Bloodstains are better washed, not wiped off._'

Tsuna on the other hand, thought of no such thing. In fact, while his face didn't show it, he was panicking.

'_Pills… where ARE they?_'

He had been so jolted by the sudden confrontation that he hadn't actually taken a proper look at his foe. All he knew was that this guy was holding onto Chrome's weapon. Chrome was missing. Possibly in a load of trouble. If a strange man happens to hold a one-of-a-kind weapon, the possibilities of that occurring were limited, or so Tsuna thought.

'_You know what, screw the pills, I can live without them. Reborn's Spartan training should work for the moment. I'll escape through the window if I have to._'

Finally returning to the battle he stuffed his mittens back into his pocket, took a good look back at his opponent, and his eyes widened again. The man standing before him looked just like the Vongola Primo. Tsuna shook his head. His blood loss couldn't have been that serious to cause him to hallucinate, right? Hallucinating shouldn't even be caused by blood loss. Delirium, maybe. Blood loss? Of course not, that would be ridiculous. At least, that's what he assumed – then again, Tsuna was short on blood and his thinking, thus, was a little impaired.

'_Then that means…_'

"Wait. Are you, the… Vongola Primo?"

"What does it mean to you?" Giotto replied calmly, waiting for the perfect chance to spring into Hyper mode.

"I was just wondering."

"And I had responded."

'_Strange_' Tsuna thought, '_he wasn't this bad the last time we met…Maybe he's angry that I tried to hit him, even if he is of less-than-corporeal form. Speaking of which—_'

"Why do you have Chrome's weapon?"

Giotto's eyebrow rose in recognition, "You know her?"

"Giotto, stop playing games, it's freaking me out. Of course I know Chrome."

The Primo boss stiffened as he heard his name, "I don't recall telling you my name." While it wasn't uncommon to go on a first name basis within his circle of Guardians and closest friends, anyone outside of the tight circle tended to refer to Giotto just as the Vongola Primo, or some other rendition of it. In a way, one could think of it as a protective mechanism in case Giotto ever wanted to step outside of the confines of his estate. He could then, quite literally, just be himself and not his position.

Tsuna remained silent at this point. His hyper intuition was telling him something that he honestly hoped wasn't true – but considering his luck, there was almost a hundred percent chance of it.

'_Since I don't know, I'm just going to have to test my theory._'

"Can I—?" Tsuna scratched the back of his head for a moment as he wondered how he ought to phrase his question so that it may become less awkward. Sadly, creativity refused to grant words to those suffering from low quantities of blood.

Giotto raised his eyebrow in confusion at the other man. His battle aura disappeared and it was replaced with a more-or-less innocent countenance. Still, while the Primo boss' hyper intuition relaxed a little bit at the change, Giotto refused to let himself relax. It was better to play on the safe side.

"Can I – for lack of better terms – touch you? You know, like, poke your shoulder?"

Giotto, had he not had better self control, would have gaped with his mouth wide open at the randomness of the question. Instead, he just blinked repeatedly in rapid succession.

"Come again?"

Tsuna grimaced, "Please don't make me say it again. You heard me the first time."

"And what if I do what every sane person would do and refuse?"

"Well, that would be a problem."

"I can certainly tell. The question is what will _you_ do about it?"

Tsuna bit his lower lip as he tried to assess the situation again – properly this time. From the way this Primo talked, it was clear that he was probably not the spirit that lurked within his ring. Thankfully, that took care of the touching-for-corporeality problem. The next one would be getting out of this particularly odd situation.

"Now, tell me stranger," flames ignited on the Primo's forehead and he pulled on his gloves, "Exactly _who_ are you?"

Tsuna gulped slightly and moved backwards somewhat, '_On second thought, maybe I'm going to need those pills after all…_'

**..8.9.**

"So you got any bright ideas on how to get out of this?" Gokudera hollered at his three companions.

"Nope, I'm clean out," Yamamoto replied with a grin on his face. One would have thought he rather enjoyed being chased down by a sword wielding man.

"So long as we're making an EXTREME escape, everything will be perfectly fine!"

Chrome sighed exasperatedly as she glanced at the various expressions plastered across her fellow Guardians' faces. She was starting to think that letting them lead the way was a really bad idea. They had already been running for a while now and had taken numerous twists and turns. Needless to say, she was getting well near dizzy from all the turning and it didn't look like they were about to take a break anytime soon. Their pursuer was also hot on their heels.

'_Sometimes, men really aren't dependable._'

Looking ahead she saw the corridor split yet again, offering two possible paths to take. Chrome finally decided to give her own two-cents about their escape route.

"You know how each of the hallways have doors that lead to a room at some point right?"

"Yeah," Gokudera winced a bit, due to his quick paced running despite his injuries, "what of it?"

"Let's take the rightmost path and keep our eyes open."

"You plan on running in the first door you see, huh?" Yamamoto interjected suddenly.

"More or less."

"More or less?"

"You got any better ideas, baseball-idiot?"

"Maa, maa, I never was against it in the first place."

"Sounds like an EXTREME plan, let's do it!"

Once they turned, all three individuals kept their eyes out for any door that would hopefully lead them to a temporary haven to catch their breath. It wouldn't take long for the sword wielder to round the corner and speed up in his chase as well. Looks of relief spread immediately on all four of their faces once they saw a particularly large set of oak doors. Yamamoto immediately grabbed the handle to open the right door and Ryohei reached out for the left door. Opening it, they ushered Chrome and Gokudera in hastily before simultaneously closing it behind them.

"Phew!" Yamamoto laughed. "We've slid over home base!"

"Che," Gokudera spat, "You and your stupid baseball references."

"EXTREME escape: Accomplished!"

However, the only one not participating in the festivities of escape was none other than Chrome, who kept her widening eyes fixed on the figures before her.

"Um…. Bossu?"

**..8.9.**

"But Lambo-san doesn't want to go!" The Thunder Guardian mentally reprimanded himself before reiterating his previous statement. "I mean _I_ don't want to go."

Bianchi gave half a smile as she heard the young teenager correct himself. Tsuna had been rather adamant recently in telling Lambo to drop the childish habit of referring to oneself in third person. It had been for something along the lines of Lambo being a big boy now, and big boys don't do babyish things.

"I'm sorry Lambo, but you can't stay here with me in the medical ward when everyone needs you out there as well."

Lambo looked away from the Poison Scorpion and pouted as he crossed his arms. Still not making eye contact Lambo asked quietly, "Did something happen to Tsuna-nii and the others?"

Now it was Bianchi's turn to be uncomfortable. "Well—we… we don't know anything for sure yet."

A tense silence grew between them before Lambo looked up and gave a sigh. "Fine. I'll go to my room first to put away some things and then I'll meet up with Fuuta and the others in the communication room."

"That's a good boy, Lambo," Bianchi said softly while patting the boy's head, giving a warm gentle smile the entire time. All the older members of the Vongola shared the same sentiments when it came to Fuuta, Lambo and I-pin. It was best that they be kept out of the conflicts – still life just seemed to throw misfortune at them consistently and it was almost impossible to keep them out of the loop for too long.

"I'm going," Lambo set down his small first aid kit.

"Be careful," Bianchi called out before turning back to place her hand on Mukuro's forehead. She was still unable to identify his condition.

Once outside, Lambo shoved his hands inside of his pockets and leaned backwards a bit as he made his way to his room. He never actually planned on putting anything away. He just needed to go to his room to take a small break and calm his nervousness before going in – it's now become more of a habit than anything else. However, in his anxiety, Lambo wasn't too careful about where he put his foot and tripped over himself. As he felt his head connect with the floor he saw an instantaneous flash of white light. Groaning slightly, Lambo pushed himself back up and rubbed his eyes.

"Yare-yare, what was that?"

Looking around, he didn't see anything too different and got up, brushing off invisible specks of dust from his pants. Heaving another sigh, he mentally reminded himself to watch where he was going before making his way to his room again.

Unbeknownst to the little Thunder Guardian, a pair of cerulean eyes was now watching his every move and made efforts to follow him inconspicuously.

"Oh? Now what do we have here?"

**..8.9.**

"Sir!"

The Vongola Storm Guardian turned in the direction that he was called from. One of his subordinates ran up slightly panting.

"Yeah, what?"

"I beg your pardon, sir, but if we don't begin heading back now it'll become too dark to navigate home in this forest, let alone conduct a search."

"So you're saying that we ought to go back empty-handed."

The subordinate was clearly flustered under G's piercing gaze, "That's not what I meant to imply at all! We can still conduct the search tomo—"

"We'll go back," G cut in, irritation laced in his voice. True, he did not like going back empty-handed, but he wasn't dumb enough to blindly continue searching. Lighting a cigarette, he gave a puff of the smoke and turned abruptly.

"Guys, we're going home!" G called out to his men, stuffed his hands back into his pockets and stalked in the direction of the estate.

**..8.9.**

Asari cursed lightly under his breath as he rounded the corner. It appeared as though the intruders had gotten away from him. It didn't matter; it won't stay that way for long, not if he could help it. Taking a deep breath and calming his breathing rate, Asari slid his two short swords back into his flowing robes and instead withdrew his regular long-sword. Stalking slowly along the halls, the idea dawned on him that the intruders might have finally decided to hide within one of the rooms. Having realized this, the Japanese man looked around to assess his location.

'_This is where Giotto-san's office should be._'

Seeing the familiar oak doors ahead, Asari moved in cautiously and carefully gave the doors a light push. The push was enough so that only a crack gave a view of the inside room. However, Asari was well-versed in the little know-how's of the Vongola mansion. Only a crack was necessary to see and hear everything that went on in the room.

"Bossu?"

'_A woman's voice._'

"Chrome! You're okay, what a relief!"

'_Another speaker… It looks like a young man._' Asari tried to get a better view through the small opening but from where the speaker was standing, he could only see a silhouette.

"Haha, Tsuna don't forget about us, too!"

"I'll forgive you if you forget because I always forget to the EXTREME!"

"Shut up, turf-head, Jyuudaime would never forget about us!"

'_Jyuudaime? Isn't that Tenth in my native language?_'

"I'm sorry to cut in to your merrymaking—"

'_Giotto-san?_'

"—but do you mind answering the question that I had asked earlier?"

Moving slightly, Asari noted that indeed, his beloved boss was in the room. What worried him, however, was that the man was in Hyper Mode and that didn't happen unless Giotto felt threatened, or had the need to express a very official aura, but usually threatened. He immediately saw the four people that he was chasing move in front of the unknown speaker in a defensive circle.

'_I must aid my boss as well_'

Deciding that it was time to get on the move, Asari shoved the door open and rushed in.

Giotto's eyes widened in surprise. He wasn't expecting his Rain Guardian to be the next one to appear before him, "Asari?"

"Don't worry, Giotto-san, I won't let them harm you like they did with G."

Giotto's attention completely focused on Asari in alarm, "G?"

Despite his fatigue, Tsuna forced himself to pay attention to the dialogue between the two men. He leaned and supported himself slightly on the desk to prevent his knees from giving way.

'_Even with the pills, I'm in no condition to fight or protect anyone right now,_' Tsuna thought grimly.

"Look at his right hand," Asari said quietly, motioning slightly to Gokudera. The Primo's sight followed in suit and rested on the ring. Tsuna's gaze also landed on Gokudera's ring and he was able to guess most, if not all, of what the first generation Guardians were thinking.

Tsuna hoped that with all of his right-hand man's intellect, he would understand and just play along with what he was about to do. For the added hint of understanding, the brunette placed a hand on the silverette's shoulder very seriously.

"Gokudera-kun, answer me this. Did you or did you not engage in combat with G and in any way injure him… possibly fatally?"

"G, the Primo's Storm Guardian? How can I possibly kill a man who's six feet under?" Gokudera protested exasperatedly throwing his hands out.

Tsuna immediately groaned and hit his forehead rather hard at his Storm Guardian's tactless choice in words. That wasn't the response he was hoping for. Despite all of the man's book smarts, some things didn't change – common sense and cleverly timed tact being on the very top of the list. Looking back at the two older Guardians, Tsuna inwardly cringed. His hyper intuition told him that they were not happy at all. Shocked and infuriated? Probably.

Immediately, Giotto and Asari propelled themselves in the general direction of the circle of trespassers. Ryohei stepped out from the crowd of Guardians in an attempt to block Giotto's punch. From that point on was a series of punches and blocks. For the most part, Giotto was doing the offensive punching and Ryohei was doing most of the defensive blocking. The only reason Ryohei was able to hold up for so long on his own was because of his sporadic sparring sessions with his own boss. Yamamoto ushered Tsuna and Gokudera farther into the room, despite their protests, to make sure that they avoid the fight until their injuries were first attended to.

Chrome made a mad dash to retrieve her wrapped trident from the floor and held the bundle up to shield herself and those behind her from Asari's blade. Being so much stronger, Asari pushed the makeshift shield lower and lower till the wrapped trident was a little more than a few inches from her face. Another quick slash at the trident sent it flying away. Chrome closed her eyes and waited for the impact that she knew was sure to come. Without her trident, she was defenseless. She had not the time to leap out and retrieve it again. Her illusions, too, were useless if not backed by the power imbued within the weapon. Quickly, however, she felt her mind being pushed into the back of her consciousness as she felt the familiar loss of control of her body.

'_Mukuro-sama?_'

Asari felt a cold mist surround him and all the other occupants of the room and at that moment he lost sight of his target. Still, that did not stop his charge. Daemon Spade was the only person he knew who could create such a thick mist. Even if the man did have a questionable personality, his loyalty lay within the Vongola without a doubt. The first Rain Guardian already made plans within his mind to counter his current blindness by a spherical swipe around his body for both protection and offensive attack range. However, he was never able to get around to the swing because his long-sword was brought to an abrupt halt by a pair of gloved hands clapped on both sides of the blade of his sword.

"Oya, oya. What do we have here?"

Asari was startled at the abrupt stop, "Daemon-san?"

"Kufufu… Not quite."

'_This much physical strength…to stop my sword mid-swing…It can't be Daemon!_'

Almost as if on cue, the gloved hands that reached out of the mist twisted the sword with such brute force that it sent Asari toppling to the side.

"Asari!" Giotto called out, alarmed, rushing to stand by his Rain Guardian's side. It wasn't so much that they were weaker against these people. The problem lay in the fact that they were still unsure of how to deal with these people and the news of G's untimely demise was so sudden that they were unable to properly fight.

Mukuro bent down leisurely to pick up the bundle of trident, quickly unwrapped the bandages, and deftly snapped the pieces back together. Leaning on it slightly, he allowed the mist to dissipate slightly so that the occupants were more visible. His heterochromatic eyes glinted as he gave a playful grin at the Sky and Rain Guardian.

"Kufufu…This is an unexpected surprise."

"Mukuro!" Tsuna warned, "Take it easy on them."

It wasn't so much that Tsuna was worried about Mukuro at the moment. No. It was more along the lines of not knowing what else he ought to do if the situation should escalate to any bigger problems – not that it wasn't one already. His older Mist Guardian, in particular, was not known for being tame when it came to fighting. He had to fix this, and fast.

"Seeing as you're outnumbered and we're somewhat injured," Tsuna tried reasoning, "How about we call a truce till we get everything sorted out? I think there's been a slight misunderstanding."

'_That's got to be the biggest understatement of the century,_' Tsuna inwardly frowned.

A long and uncomfortable moment stretched between them. Asari looked to his boss. After sharing a moment of eye contact, Giotto nodded slowly. He wanted answers.

'_Although I will have no idea how to explain everything once we've all settled down…_'

**..8.9.**

"You're kidding." Upon hearing the news, Lampo sat straight up from his slouched position on the armchair.

"I wish I were."

"Wait, wait, wait," Lampo put up his hands before him and wiped away the figurative cobwebs from his mind. "You're saying that we have intruders and little to no information… which probably leaves us at numerous disadvantages that I don't even _want_ to start listing."

"Yes," Knuckle replied grimly.

Lampo heaved a great sigh, "As much as I don't want to admit this but, where is Alaude when you need him?"

"You want him to research the backgrounds of these people." Knuckle said it more as a statement than an actual question.

"Well, that would be a good start."

"We can't do anything about it if he hasn't even returned yet."

"When is his expected arrival based on his last letter?"

Knuckle paused to think for a moment, "Either really late tonight or tomorrow morning was the best estimate – although, he does like to push things so that he's ahead of schedule."

"Hmm yes, efficiency as he liked to call it."

"Amen."

Stretching his arms backwards onto the armchair again, Lampo readjusted his expression to that of lazy indifference.

"Guess we'll just have to lay low and be patient until then."

**..8.9.**

Alaude looked back at the rocky path that he had walked off from. It was better for him that he stayed off the main path – it saved him the trouble of meeting irritable people.

'_Besides,_' Alaude reasoned with himself, '_Cutting through the forested outskirts of the estate saves much more time compared to if I had taken the actual path._'

As usual, the Vongola Primo's Cloud Guardian had completed his mission in France in half the expected time. Alaude smirked at his own efficiency. He would be able to get back to worrying about his own troubles instead of handling other people's problems. Honestly, he didn't even know why he bothered to help that man. Shaking his head of the thoughts, Alaude continued to plow through the grassy undergrowth. It would only be a few more hours before he reached the inviting doors of his own room.

And yet, Alaude couldn't help but feel as though something was uniquely off that day. He shrugged the feeling away.

"Must be getting cold. I should hurry."

**..8.9.**

"Why would they be retreating if they had the upper hand?" Kusakabe asked the technician, confusion written clearly on his face.

"I don't know!" Giannini tousled what little hair he had on the sides of his head in frustration. "But the cameras don't lie!"

"I'd have to agree with him there," Spanner pulled a lollipop from his pocket and began to tear away at the wrapping. "The cameras _do_ indicate that they're heading off the estate."

Hibari pulled his eyes away from the pixilated screen to look first at Giannini and then to Spanner. He had made a point in calling the curly-haired technician to the communications room after realizing that his early situations practically called for trouble to coming running to his feet.

"There is the possibility that it's a trap?" Kusakabe offered.

"Can we just assume that the Tenth was successful?" Giannini asked hopefully.

"Assumptions are for herbivores. To say that is like guaranteeing your own death," Hibari snapped back.

"I'm sorry Hibari!" Gianni cowered under his desk again.

Shoichi raised his eyebrow at the scene unfolding before him. He, too, was dragged from the depths of his technician's room along with Spanner in order to help Giannini. Well, that was what they were officially called in for anyway. After living with the Vongola Family for a while now, Shoichi realized that some particular individuals within the family had quite a questionable array of abilities. Bianchi's poison cooking – even when she's not fighting – and Giannini's inbuilt defectiveness were listed in his casual observations. The redhead could swear every ounce of his being that he and Spanner were only there in order to make sure that Giannini didn't screw anything up, not that it would have been preventable. Even the combined efforts of Hibari, Spanner and Shoichi couldn't prevent the danger that was Giannini, the technician.

"So," Shoichi cleared his throat, bringing the attention of the room back to him, "where is Lambo? Didn't we call him earlier?"

"I did," Fuuta answered, "he should be here by now."

"Oh?"

Dropping the receiver back into its slot, Spanner spoke up suddenly. "The Poison Scorpion says that she sent him out at least ten minutes ago."

"Shouldn't he be here then?"

Hibari bit on the back end of his pen cap lightly as he digested all the information he had just heard. Kusakabe's idea of the retreat being a trap seemed more and more probable by the minute.

'_The brat's missing too?_'

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

KitsuneFreak: Kyaa! Finished watching episode 201. It was so inspirational that I shed tears (ok, so maybe _that_ was a lie) and Primo finally showed up! I'm ecstatic! Now, I just have to wait another week to see them fight…. Great. Well, at least I still got part of what I wanted.

For some reason, I could have sworn I heard cheering in the back of my mind when I wrote in Mukuro's appearance. Then again, most of you were probably wondering where the pineapple went. Man! I keep thinking that all the characters are FINALLY going to be written into the past and then another idea pops up and I take the plot in a different direction again. Well, I find it fun to keep people guessing anyway – can't be too predictable.

I still don't get why people hate on Tsuna. Don't _you_ just want to pinch his cheeks too? Well, I could be biased at this moment because I'm listening to Hitotsu Dake and Mamorubeki Mono on loop. Also, I love Gamma and all but if he ever decides to sing in English again, I'm sure he will kill kittens if he hasn't done so already.

See you until the next chapter!

Don't forget to R&R!

Toodles~!


	5. With a Chance of Clouds

KitsuneFreak: After skimming the reviews, I find that some wanted me to speed up the plot in the sense that some people just want Tsuna to scream at the top of his lungs "WE ARE IN THE PAST PEOPLE" (yeah… just like that, I can see it now… XD). Hey, if I didn't drag it out a bit more, then we might not have seen the pineapple show up. Just kidding, he would have had to show anyway. So, alrighty then! I worked with it in the fastest most plausible way I could come up with while being as in character as I can and not breaking any 4th walls (only Fran breaks those). I hope you all enjoy!

There was the question, will there be a reincarnation type scenario connecting Mukuro and Daemon…well, much as I'd love it that would open a whole new can of worms for me and for those who know of Inuyasha, I have serious issues with the whole Kikyo & Kagome being the same person thing…I wanted to stab Kikyo for the longest time. Plus, it doesn't make sense in my mind that 1 soul, if you will, can be in 2 bodies at the same time from different time periods in the same time… Wow, I just confused myself some more there. See what I mean?

Meanwhile, some fuzzies that were present in the last chapter should have been cleared up in this one. Also, I feel inadequate because I had to literally search up the 'parts of a sofa'. I really don't know what the back things are called (does it even have a name?). I know armrest, seat and chair leg… For my life to function normally, I doubt I need to know more. Regardless, if I say rail, please keep in mind that it is like the armrest… except where your back goes. If anyone knows if that thing has a formal name, please tell me, I may change it. I'm just laughing away right now because of my inability to identify the parts of a couch/sofa/chair. Mukuro brings out my inadequate side… XD

Disclaimer: WHY 203, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN US? At least we'll be getting Generation X in 2011 Springtime!

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

"So let's start of with a simple question and answer. That, I guess, would be the most direct way of figuring it all out."

For a moment, Tsuna fiddled with the fresh bandages on his arms. Gokudera had refused to have any civil conversation or calm down until his boss' injuries were attended to and the young tenth boss couldn't exactly deny that he was grateful for it. That led to the procuring of bandages that the Vongola Primo just happened to always keep in his room. This, of course, then snowballed into the general fuss and bustle of treating various injuries while Ryohei paced about the room in a supposedly 'extremely stressed' manner. Yamamoto tried to make himself useful by helping to wash off the injuries. Asari ran out and returned shortly after with garments that the pair could wear. Mukuro, on the other hand, just sat himself comfortably on the rail of the couch watching the whole scene, his legs crossed and dangling off the seat. The tenth boss smiled slightly at the other Sky and Rain Guardian's bountiful hospitality. In any case, if their situations were reversed, it was likely that he'd do the same thing.

"I first want to know," Giotto started, "if G is alright. That would be my top priority at the moment."

'_We really are similar_' the brunette mused. Tsuna realized then that he wasn't all that surprised that the Primo's attention was now focused on his Storm Guardian instead of finding out their identities.

'_After all, that's what I would do too… or is it the other way around?_' Tsuna didn't care anymore to be completely honest.

"Well," Tsuna started, taking a deep breath, "that depends on the context."

"Context?"

"Yeah."

Giotto looked questioningly at the brunette in front of him.

"Since when does the quality of life and death depend on one's context?"

"Well… we're not from around here," Tsuna fished in his mind desperately for a way to explain the problematic concept of time travel but was coming up with a blank. Saying things along the lines of 'bright shiny lights flashed and here we are!' didn't sound too believable no matter how true it may have been. That made it seem like they were out at the local bar the previous night and couldn't remember their way back. Once again, creative subtlety still had a grudge against him.

"What he means to say is that when we're from, you're all dead," Mukuro finished with a smug look on his face. He tapped his foot lightly on the seat as he had not bothered to change his position from earlier.

"Mukuro!" Tsuna's face visibly blanched at his Mist Guardian's choice of words.

'_How blunt!_'

"When?" Giotto's eyes widened in confusion.

Immediately, Gokudera slammed a fist into his open palm and looked as though the brightest light bulb of ingenuity just flashed within his head.

"We're in the past, aren't we!" Gokudera cried out, a little too proudly.

"Ano… past?" Asari raised his hand slightly. Giotto raised an eyebrow at the man's bilingual antics. He knew that Asari only broke out into Japanese if he was really confused or too deep in thought to care about the words tumbling from his mouth. Needless to say, the Primo boss was grateful that he wasn't alone in all the confusion.

"Really? That's strange to the extreme!" Ryohei yelled out, completely ignoring the confused pair.

"Haha, it's just like that time when we went and fought the Millefiore."

Mukuro raised an eyebrow slightly in a show of disbelief. He knew that the other Guardians were not exactly the brightest cookies in the jar but this kind of lateness in realizing the situation was downright embarrassing. The Mist Guardian made the effort to scoot a little bit further from the Storm Guardian next to him, who was now gesticulating excitedly. Sadly, the railing was only so long.

"–that explains everything!" Gokudera ended his excited rambling on a rather bubbly note.

"I'm sure," Mukuro couldn't help but call back mockingly.

"You know what, you should have ju—"

"Ano… ware wa—" Asari cut in. Catching himself quickly, he shook his head for a moment to clear his mental language cogs. "Umm… I meant, we're still confused," Asari repeated himself, a little more slowly this time. "You're holding individual conversations again."

"Haha, we seem to have a habit of doing that, huh?" Yamamoto laughed. "If you want, you can ask us in your native language too. We do understand Japanese."

Giotto and Asari exchanged a quick glance. They were starting to notice that these kids caught onto small things quickly. A little _too_ quickly for just a bunch of simple youngsters.

"No," Asari answered, "Italian's fine, I ought to practice it anyway."

"Che, suit yourself," Gokudera retorted crossing his arms and rolling his eyes.

"You were saying something about the past?" Giotto made an attempt to steer the conversation back on course.

"Yes, well," Tsuna fidgeted some more, debating with himself on how much he should say. "You could think of it as a sort of time travel? We're technically from the future and this present would be our past and our present would be your future. Does that clear things up for you?"

There was a lengthy pause.

"Probably not."

Tsuna sighed and rubbed his temple with his less injured right hand.

'_We may be here for a while._'

**..8.9.**

Putting out his cigarette, G continued his stroll back home. He wasn't dejected, just irritated. Even the ever-nearing sight of the Vongola estate became more frustrating to him.

'_Great, now I need to think up a better excuse than 'It was too dark to find anything so we came back' to tell Giotto.'_

Running a hand through his hair, G looked up at the sky and gave a deep sigh. Upon having his gaze return to earth, a familiar cloaked figure up ahead in the road caught his eye.

"Alaude's back already?" G asked no one in particular.

"Did you say something, sir?" a subordinate asked hesitantly. The Storm Guardian's wrath was well-known and the poor lackey was worried that it may still be directed at him.

"Huh?" G was snapped out his reverie.

"I'm sorry I asked!"

"Oh, it was nothing in particular."

**..8.9.**

After plodding along the nonexistent path for a lengthy amount of time, Alaude looked up to see the vine trellises that curled about the semi-hidden back door of the estate. He never liked to use the front gates because of the constant din created by people moving in and out of the building. The Cloud Guardian heaved a sigh of relief. No one had seen him…

'_Finally back._'

Turning the knob, he slipped in quietly through the door and made his way down the narrow hallway. The second reason why he liked using the back door was because it was relatively close to his room. There couldn't possibly be any mishaps to ruin his perfect day.

**..8.9.**

Now, while Daemon Spade had seen a number of strange things from his prowls as a distinguished Guardian of the Vongola Family, a boy falling from thin air probably topped the list – especially when he was completely sure of the absence of illusions. He had been avoiding detection from his fellow guardians and their subordinates as usual when that boy appeared. Needless to say, he was intrigued, especially when the boy looked like someone he knew all too well.

"Did Lampo learn a new trick?" Daemon muttered under his breath, frowning slightly. Noting the black hair, he added, "And fall down a chimney while he was at it. Not surprising I suppose, since he's always up to something foolish."

The Mist Guardian looked up from his hidden location behind the boy to see them approaching the area of Guardians' personal rooms. It also came as no surprise to Daemon that the boy went to pull the handle of the door and go in. Daemon, finding nothing strange was afoot, was about to turn and leave when an uncharacteristic shriek sounded from behind him.

"What are you doing in my room!"

'_Intruders? Quite surprising they were able to make it this far. A commendable feat._'

Daemon hurriedly made his way back in the direction of the shriek, his defensive illusions still intact. He was considering which illusion he should start off with until his mental train stopped right in its tracks from the unusual sight before him. Eyes widening, the Mist Guardian could only thank his illusions for still masking his presence; otherwise, his undignified gaping would have led to much taunting.

This so-called paralyzing scene depicted a panicky raven haired Lampo pointing at a very surprised green-haired Lampo who was lounging in a couch. For that matter, Knuckle was also present somewhere in between, eyes darting between the two and gaping the entire time as well.

"Your room?" the normal Lampo asked confusedly.

"Yeah," the 'other Lampo' replied, "At least, I'm sure it is."

"Wait, so who are you and how'd you get here?" Knuckle asked.

Knuckle and Lampo were particularly surprised at that moment to hear a loud whacking sound and saw the boy land on the floor with a thud. Daemon seemed to materialize out of thin air next to the unconscious figure and rested his scepter on his shoulder.

"What?" Daemon asked innocently, seeing the other two's irritated glares in his direction.

"Daemon," Knuckle groaned, "we could have asked him questions!"

"Great, now what do we do with the body?" Lampo asked, not missing a beat.

"He's not dead you know…"

"It's still your fault for making this more difficult than it ought to be," Lampo retorted back.

"I guess that means we'll have to carry him over to Giotto's office and see what we can do from here on out," the priest began pacing slightly as he planned their next course of action.

"He's lucky that I went easy on him, being an intruder and all."

"Which reminds me," Lampo perked up suddenly, "why exactly _are_ you here, like in this general vicinity?"

"Good point, you had been missing for the past two days," Knuckle added.

"Let's keep that my business, shall we?"

"More like avoiding us," Lampo muttered under his breath.

"What was that, brat?"

"Nothing, nothing. Help me drag this body will you?"

**..8.9.**

"I still don't see why they would even consider retreating."

Shoichi scratched his head in confusion as he looked back onto the screen. With the other's away and the situation as it was, he served as the new second in command. With highly complex strategizing abilities, he was an ideal candidate to say the least. Still, this was one strategy that puzzled him.

"They have the upper hand right?" Fuuta asked.

"Yes, unless we consider that Tsunayoshi-kun's defeat of the third attacking party was somehow important in this particular retreat."

"We can't ask either because all communication with Sawada's party is gone," Kusakabe added grimly.

"You herbivores handle this minor problem," Hibari turned abruptly and headed out the door.

"Wait, what? Bad idea!" Giannini yelped but his cry fell on deaf ears as the door slammed shut after the Cloud Guardian exited.

A silence descended upon the remaining occupants of the room.

"He's, uh, going to help us do something about this right?" Shoichi looked to Kusakabe worriedly.

"I certainly hope so. I'm sure he's thinking of something."

Outside, Hibari quickly walked his way back to his office. It was quite a lengthy distance away but he made it there soon enough. He could care less about the herbivores' problems but it was invading his personal territory, and of course, when that happened, Hibari preferred to solve it his way. Pushing the chair away, he leaned over the desk and turned the volume knob back up.

No sound.

Fiddling with some of the other dials, the result stayed the same.

'_Perhaps, they broke it?_'

Coming up with a new idea, Hibari paused the track and rewound it to play everything from the time he left.

"You alright, Gokudera-kun?"

"I could have sworn I just saw my life flash before my eyes. I… am so indebted to Jyuudaime."

"Save it, Gokudera-kun, I can't keep track anymore"

"Do you see what I see?"

"Of course, Jyuudaime."

"Well, that should make things easier."

"Indeed."

Several explosions were heard and the sound of fighting continued on, but Hibari was unable to discern anymore conversation from that point on. Fast forwarding the track a bit, he was able to surmise that the herbivore-boss had either defeated all his enemies by this point or ran off. Giving the herbivore-boss the benefit of the doubt, Hibari merely inferred that the enemy party had been defeated by then. A little later in the track led to the line going dead in a fashion very similar to the situation of the line when he walked back into his office.

The skylark pursed his lips slightly and gave an inaudible sigh before plopping himself down on his chair… or so he believed. Instead he fell through what had been the chair. The Cloud Guardian noted the all-encompassing white light surrounding him and an unusual feeling of weightless paralysis. However, no sooner had he tried to adjust to this new feeling did it go away. The whiteness receded to reveal a dark room. He had, at some point, landed in a cushioned armchair – very different from his leather swivel chair. Not to mention he was also staring into a pair of light blue eyes that looked at him with a mixture of surprise and coldness.

"Herbivore" Hibari greeted.

"Stranger," the man acknowledged.

Alaude had been trying to thumb through a book and sit down when this strange man dropped from seemingly out of nowhere on his armchair. The Primo's Cloud Guardian had to wonder if he should be irritated or feel somewhat joyous at the fact that he narrowly escaped being squashed.

'_Note to self: Never assume that a perfect day cannot possibly be ruined._' Alaude inwardly sighed exasperatedly.

**..8.9.**

"So let me get this straight," Giotto said slowly. "You're all from the future."

Several heads nodded once.

"And part of the future Vongola family's seven guardians… which explains why you have duplicate rings?"

Another round of nods swept the room.

"And you've somehow been transported here with no idea of how long you'll be staying or how to get back."

A final set of nods occurred, more vigorously that the last two.

Giotto stared ahead at the five people seated in front of him. "And I'm supposed to _believe_ this?"

"Well, that was the plan," Tsuna commented thoughtfully.

Heaving a tremendous sigh, Giotto massaged his right temple. He could feel a headache coming on already.

"Okay, so let's say we do believe you. What do you expect us to do then?"

"Be supportive?" Yamamoto offered with a grin.

"I'm afraid," Asari said, "being supportive can't help much in this situation of yours."

"Well either way, neither we nor you can do anything about it," Mukuro replied smoothly.

"Oh, and while I'm thinking of it," Giotto raised his gaze to meet that of the heterochromatic man, "what are you doing here? I thought you were Chrome."

"I am Chrome and I am not Chrome."

Gokudera rolled his eyes at the undeniably confusing statement. "Way to go. That completely makes sense pineapple-head."

"As much as you do, puppy, I'm sure."

Tsuna felt his eye twitch slightly at the argument that was already beginning to bloom between his Storm and Mist Guardian. Somehow, Gokudera still had a knack for getting into a fight with just about anyone and Mukuro's prodding personality didn't help any.

"But really Mukuro," the brunette started, "why are you here? Did you fall back in time with us, too?"

Mukuro stayed silent for a moment as he looked to the side.

"I doubt my body did."

Giotto and Asari, still being new to all this information merely listened on with interest.

"That makes no sense to the extreme!"

"I was possessing Chrome when she fell back in time. Odds are, that was when my natural connection with my own body disconnected somewhat. My consciousness, if you will, traveled with her and cannot exactly return to a body which is non-existent in this time period."

'_Then why did you not respond to me, Mukuro-sama?_'

'_Oya, oya? You need patience. I was trying to see if I could find a way back._'

"So you're in like, full possession mode because you don't have a body now right?" Yamamoto asked.

"Not exactly how I'd like to put it but, yes, if your incompetent minds can understand it that way then sure."

'_I will note, my dear Chrome, that because of my lack of an anchor, it makes holding mental conversations difficult when I'm not in control of a body. If I recede, I may have to just dwell in the back of your mind for the time being._'

'_It's fine, I don't mind so long as you're alright._'

'_Kufufu…Don't worry too much, I'll find a way to make communication easier. Nothing can stop me after all._'

Lifting his arms about his head and stretching slightly, Mukuro continued, "Well, I'm getting tired. I'll be taking my leave for a while."

With that, a whirl of mist surrounded the heterochromatic man, and to the surprise of the two first generation Guardians, the seated person they now saw was Chrome.

"I'm back."

"That was an illusion, right?" Asari pointed at Chrome.

"Sure."

"So what's the plan?" Gokudera piped up suddenly.

"I don't think," Giotto stated quietly, "that I want the other Guardians to know of your real identities just yet. There are still a few things that need to be sorted out before then."

"Do you think this would be a good thing to keep from G?" Asari asked back softly.

"Oh, he hasn't come back from scouting, has he?"

"Apparently not. In addition, he wouldn't take to well with secrets."

"What mishap could he possibly infer from all this?"

They group pondered the possibilities – it didn't seem all that bad to keep one tiny secret.

"Then," Tsuna asked, tentatively cutting into the conversation, "what will our cover story be?"

"Long lost siblings to the EXTREME!"

"No one's going to believe that, Turf-head!"

"Twins, then?"

"Same thing!"

"How about apprentices?" Chrome offered.

"For what?" was the first Rain Guardian's reply.

"Guardianship?"

"Is that even possible?" Yamamoto inquired.

"Well, they make the rules right?" Tsuna replied, "No one can really question the first generation."

"True."

Giotto looked thoughtful for a moment as he weighed the believability of this story. "I think it could work. When we tell the truth we can just say that guardianship apprenticing was a really bad and inefficient idea."

"Then it has been settled extremely!"

"In the meantime," Giotto continued, "Asari will take you to some extra rooms where you will stay for the time being. I'm going to have to go ahead and tell my people to setup the private dining room later on this evening so we can have a _proper_ chat."

With that final note, everyone stood up to their feet. The younger band of Guardians followed in tow behind the first Rain Guardian and Giotto stayed behind to watch them all file out. Bringing up the rear, Giotto closed the door quietly behind him and turned in the opposite direction of Asari to attend to arrangement business.

**..8.9.**

'_So we're back and I still haven't come up with a good enough reason._'

G looked dismally at the suddenly ominous-looking front door. He wasn't looking forward to meeting his boss at all. Turning, he dismissed his subordinates to tend to their own matters while he was still developing a strategy to solve his own. In fact he was so deep in thought that he didn't notice the oncoming collision that he had with the last person he wanted to meet.

"Hey! Watch where you—" G's eyes widened in recognition, "…. Giotto?"

"Oh, G, you're back!"

"Yeah," the Storm Guardian cleared his throat awkwardly.

"So…"

"It was too dark to find anything so we came back."

'_God, why'd I have to go and say that?_' G internally berated himself for using the lame excuse that he had been trying to avoid.

"Oh, well that's okay then. Good to know that you're back."

'_Wait a second…_'

"You're not disappointed?" G asked suspiciously.

"Why would I be? You're alright and no news is good news."

"Giotto…"

"Yes?"

"Are you hiding something from me?"

Now it was the Primo boss' turn to be uncomfortable, "Why would I do that?"

"I don't know. You tell me."

"I'm not hiding anything, really."

G crossed his arms and stared pointedly at the blonde.

"We've been friends for how long? I would know if something's up."

"Really G, it's nothing."

"Right," the redhead commented sarcastically. "While I'm here, I might as well tell you that I saw Alaude. He's back earlier than expected, but no surprise there."

"Oh?"

'_Oh man, I forgot about him... Now there's one more person to have to answer to. Must be my lucky day._'

"Well, since I have no more information to pass on and you don't seem to want to let up your side…" G shot Giotto a dirty look, "I'll be in my room if you need me."

"Oh, um, G? Dinner's going to be in the Guardians' dining room."

"What's the occasion?"

"Just some important facts that we need to straighten out as a whole."

"Is that what you're not telling me?"

"Possibly."

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

KitsuneFreak: A little slow update for this chapter. I still had to sort out some plot things but I have somewhat of a clear path ahead of me right now.

For some reason, I can imagine Hibari sitting in one of those black leather swivel chairs. It's a funny image in my mind and I just had to add it in. I haven't laid out the framework for the next chapter just yet, but I want to start off with the dilemmas for Alaude and Daemon and company. I mean, come on, think about it. The two most antisocial Guardians coming together and meeting like that. Wouldn't you think that would happen?

Toodles~!

R&R


	6. The Start of Miscommunication

KitsuneFreak: Wow! Sorry for such a late post! School's busy but finals are over. In other news, my birthday passed and I'm now officially an adult – which brings me mixed emotions most definitely because I _still_ act like a 5 year old. XD

I don't think I can write fight scenes well. I put _way_ too much planning behind a simple swipe, but I guess that's up for you to decide.

ANYWAY, I hope you all will enjoy this latest chapter of 'To Reach…' =D Despite my sporadically late posts, I hope my short one shots are amusing you in the meantime, I hope?

Disclaimer: That was so not a blatant ad for another story, _no, _I wouldn't dare… Want a cup of tea?

(Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…)

Alaude was busy contemplating what he should do with this young man. The stranger _did_ just trespass into his room (hence his territory) – never mind the fact that this unusual guest dropped onto his armchair out of nowhere. It did not seem to occur to the 1st Cloud Guardian that the laws of physics don't cater to these oddities.

Meanwhile, Hibari's hand twitched slightly as he barely contained his urge to reach into his jacket and pull out his ever-ready tonfas. He had to at least try to be civil. However, falling into a strange room on a strange chair with a strange man dangerously inside his expansive personal bubble space was straining his threads of civility. Add that to the fact that his self control lasted an average of ten seconds.

"I'm going to arrest you and put you into temporary confinement for trespassing these grounds."

Oh, screw civility, the ten seconds were up.

"I'll bite you to death."

"Excu—"

Alaude didn't even have the time to finish as the man before him whipped out a pair of silver metal tonfas and lunged. Thankfully, he shielded himself with the book he had been holding.

'_Strong form,_' Alaude mused in passing.

'_Good defense_' Hibari smirked.

Both men jumped backwards slightly in order to give themselves the necessary space. Hibari lunged again. This time Alaude was ready. Ducking quickly, he avoided the swipe to his head and aimed a low punch at Hibari's stomach. Hibari, on the other hand, withdrew and blocked with a tonfa. Wincing slightly at the contact of his hand on metal, Alaude backpedaled away from the younger man.

"I'm not interested in fighting you," Alaude said in a bored tone.

"Pity, it seems like you're in the midst of it right now," replied Hibari with a smirk.

'_Oh? This one's feisty._'

Eyeing the doorframe to his left, Alaude prepared himself for a quick bolt out. Unluckily, Hibari caught his gaze and glanced behind. Giving a sadistic grin, Hibari slid his foot and then his entire body over to the right to block Alaude's path. It was clear to the 1st Cloud Guardian that he would not be gaining exit from his room anytime soon without a fight. Unfortunately, he wasn't in the mood for one.

"I take it you're a little quick with your weapon?" Alaude commented, nodding to Hibari's tonfas.

"Hn."

'_Not much of a talker though._'

"Well, I guess we'll have to do this the hard way." Alaude dashed towards his opponent's lower left hand side, aiming to throw off his footing. Hibari, not quite expecting the roundabout method of escape, darted to his right in order to avoid any collision. Alaude took that as his chance to make for the door. For that matter, he almost _did_ make it, had it not been for the tonfa that was thrown to lodge itself into the wall inches away from his face, effectively barring his path.

"How do you expect to win a fight without a weapon?" Hibari asked, advancing slowly.

"Easy," Alaude sneered, "I'm not weighted down by unnecessary things."

Turning once more to face his opponent, Alaude ran towards Hibari straight on. Eyes widening, Hibari swung his sole tonfa in a half-circle in front of him in order to counter any possible attacks. What he wasn't quite expecting was for Alaude to jump back and bolt towards the door… again.

'_Just kidding kid_' Alaude thought to himself. '_I'm not in the mood to fight and destroy my room today._'

"Che," Hibari spat and pursued the older man. '_He's not getting away that easily._'

"Now what can I use as a good weapon?" Alaude mused as he looked at his fleeting surroundings as he ran.

**..8.9.**

"Oh?" Daemon frowned as he opened the door of the Primo's office. "It seems as though he's not here. What a pity."

"Do you think we should wait here?" Lampo asked, dropping the teen unceremoniously on the carpeted floor.

"Um, Lampo," Knuckle eyes the limp form on the ground, "either way, it's probably not a good idea for this child to be left on the floor like that."

"Oh right," Lampo chuckled awkwardly, scratching his head. "I'd clean forgotten about him."

"How in God's name could you forget about a person you were carrying?" Knuckle asked, bewildered.

"Skill," Lampo responded knowingly.

"Idiocy," corrected Daemon, rolling his eyes.

"Anyway, if Giotto's not here we should at least try to find him. I don't think that this," Knuckle motioned to the teen that was still prostrate on the ground, "little development can wait."

"Agreed," Daemon nodded.

Knuckle turned to leave when he nearly tripped over something that rattled as his foot made contact with it. Stumbling forward, he looked back to try and see the perpetrator. Lampo rushed to his side while Daemon meandered back to find the cause of the mishap.

"You okay?" Lampo asked worriedly.

"Alright, but what was that?"

"Clearly not paperwork…" Daemon's voice trailed as he bent down to pick up a small innocent looking container that nearly caused the early death of the 1st Generation Sun Guardian.

Shaking the container, they all found that it made the same rattling noise as before. Raising an eyebrow, Daemon flipped the container right-side up and snapped it open. Peering inside the square-ish hole, the Mist Guardian frowned slightly at its contents.

"What is it, Daemon?" Lampo asked curiously.

Tipping the container onto his open palm, the other two Guardians watched in amused bewilderment as little blue spheres rolled out.

"Candy?" Knuckle laughed quietly.

"That seems to be the case."

"So this is what boss runs on. And Giotto said _I_ had a sweet tooth," Lampo rolled his eyes.

"All the more reason to find Giotto then, don't you think?" Daemon grinned mischievously. "After all, he'll want to satiate his sweet tooth."

"Well, I'll open the door for you then," Knuckle said. He strolled over to swing the door wider. Daemon, taking this as his cue, funneled the blue candies back into the container and pocketed it. Wordlessly, he quickly made his way to Knuckle and the open door.

Turning back for a moment, Daemon called back, "Aren't you coming, brat?" As quick as before, he turned back and exited the room.

"Yeah! Of course!" Lampo retorted. He stooped down to pick up the teen that he had dropped earlier, only to stop halfway as a thought occurred to him.

"Hey! Why am I the one doing the hard physical labor here?"

**..8.9.**

'**The ry****ū****teki, or Japanese dragon flute is one made from bamboo….** '

Asari rested his forehead on the palm of his hand and sighed in frustration. He had made it back to the library and plopped himself down at one of the reading tables. Despite having the book open in front of him, he couldn't bring his attention to the text.

'_People just show up inside the Vongola mansion. They know Japanese. They can fight. What? Is it my fault? Is it the yakuza again?_'

"I just don't understand this!" Asari grumbled out loud. When knock sounded and the door opened behind him, the Japanese swordsman quickly wiped away all expressions of frustration and turned to smile brightly at his visitor.

"Giotto…san?" Asari's eyebrows furrowed in slight confusion.

"Thought I'd find you here."

"Well, what did you want to find me for?"

The blonde man walked over, not losing the worried look in his eyes.

"Drop the act."

Asari chuckled softly, "You knew?"

"Hard not to know that something's bothering you. You're quite easy to read when you're smiling ten times wider than you normally do.

"Well," Asari stretched back slightly while eying his boss, "now that that's settled, what did you come here for?"

"You tell me. I just want to know _what exactly_ is bothering you… although," Giotto added, "I have my suspicions."

"It's those kids."

"Figures."

"What if they're part of my past, you know, the Japanese mafia – yakuza and stuff. I'd feel really guilty if they came here because of me."

Giotto blinked several times in disbelief.

"_That_ is what's bothering you? What makes you think that it's your fault? Just because they can understand Japanese doesn't immediately mean that you're responsible."

"I know but—"

"Asari, get it out of your head."

"But what if—"

"I will _not_ have any of my Guardians thinking or talking like that. We made this family so that we could have a fresh start and give others fresh starts as well."

"It's true…but—"

"Besides," Giotto smiled slightly, "if you, the Rain Guardian, is out of it, then the rest of us can't possibly stand tall."

"And this is your idea of being helpful?" Asari raised his eyebrows in amusement.

"Wasn't my pep talk helpful?" Giotto blinked up innocently.

"If that's your idea of helping, then I'm worried about how much pressure you can put on people when you're not so gracious."

The two men laughed out loud at their own gentle bantering.

"So," Giotto started, "you really believe them?"

"It's a rather complicated story. What's your take on them?"

"It's the same as with that girl, Chrome. I want to believe them because I don't sense any aura of ill intent. But… with all the tension coming from other mafia families and whatnot, I don't think it's wise to accept them without a doubt."

"And if they're really part of the yakuza?"

"Maybe. Then again, our actions could cost us an ally."

"They're young; even if that's the case, we shouldn't consider putting them in the frontlines."

"There are a lot of things that I don't want to do, Asari, but we have to face the reality now that we've somehow associated ourselves with the mafia."

"Still, it's no reason to deviate from our original ideals."

"I just wished that…" Giotto's voice trailed off.

"Don't worry, we'll get back on track in no time. In the meantime, have you considered any way to test them and prove their story's worth?"

"Didn't the child admit to having rings?"

"I believe so. It was what caused the confusion anyway," Asari frowned at the memory.

"Well the first three didn't have rings."

"True, perhaps they're hiding them?"

"Speaking of which, did we ever asked for their names?"

There was a short silence as both men realized one very important detail that managed to escape them.

"Oops. We should probably do that."

"Well," the Vongola boss cleared his throat. "Let's see if they know how to use the rings – given that they all have it. Only we, the Guardians, know of its properties as of now."

"It seems to be a splendid idea."

"Let's head over to the dining room shall we?" Giotto stood. "I'll send a maid to fetch the newcomers and G – I think he's going to yell at me later for this."

A pause interrupted their conversation once the words slowly sank into their minds as they walked on.

"Wait, doesn't that imply that they're _our_ successors?"

**..8.9.**

When the door closed behind them, each of the tenth generation guardians heaved enormous sighs of relief.

"You think that story worked?" Yamamoto asked the others, his brow furrowing slightly in worry.

"Baseball-idiot, how _dare_ you doubt Jyuudaime!"

"But I mean, time travel? Come on. That's a bit much."

"Why you—"

"No, no Gokudera-kun. I think Yamamoto-kun has a really good point."

Tsuna dropped his hands down after having kept an argument at bay. Turning to face the door that closed behind them, he continued, "Anyhow, I wouldn't blame them if they're still skeptical."

The over-energetic and zealous aura fizzled out of the silverette almost immediately. "I guess… if you say so then, Jyuudaime."

"Well, then how do we go to the extreme from here?" Ryohei asked, scratching his head rather overtly.

"Other than our stories, we haven't done anything to prove what we've said," Chrome added uneasily.

"Yeah."

The room went quiet as they thought about the situation up until that point.

"I wonder how Lambo and Hibari are holding up, back at home," Tsuna wondered out loud.

"Che, you shouldn't worry those idiots, Jyuudaime. They can hold their own without us having to constantly babysit them," Gokudera placed a hand on Tsuna's shoulder.

Smiling back, Tsuna nodded, "Yeah, you're right."

"And now back to the bigger problem…" Yamamoto commented, looking at their elegant guests' living room.

"Right… Proving that we are who we say we are," Tsuna sighed and wracked his brain for a solution.

"The rings are a sure enough proof to the extreme!" Ryohei yelled out suddenly.

"Shut up turf-head, that isn't going to work," Gokudera yelled back with equal intensity.

"Why not, octopus-head?" The tacit yelling contest had not ended yet.

"Because you're not using that turf-filled head of yours!"

"At least my turf is to the EXTREME!"

Gokudera blinked several times as he tried to process Ryohei's surprising comeback.

"Well, _your_ turf str—"

"Maa, maa guys, this is probably not the best time to fight," Yamamoto interjected.

"Besides, we can't do that," Chrome pointed out, effectively ending the squabble, "Rings can be bought and stolen."

"Not the flames."

The four Guardians looked back to see their boss leaning on the wall, looking pensively at the palm of his right hand.

"I'm sorry?" Chrome asked reflexively.

"Rings may be bought and stolen but not the flames of resolve that are within them. We'll win them over with that."

A knock sounded on the door and a maid peered in tentatively.

"Umm, the Primo requests your presence at the private dining room. I'm to lead you there."

Looking around, Tsuna gave a small grin.

"Shall we?"

**..8.9.**

"Who does he think he is anyway," G fumed to himself in his room. "As if I wouldn't notice that he's hiding something."

Glancing through his open curtains, he saw his own image reflected back at himself.

"I'm not his right hand man for nothing!"

Still, something was not right. Giotto never kept secrets from any of his Guardians (sure, Daemon was an exception, but he was _always_ an exception) and especially not G. The newcomer girl had definitely had something to do with it.

Bribery? Blackmailing? Or even…seduction?

G shook his head for moment.

"No, no, no, that can't be the case. She's too young for that. It's something else."

Threats to harm the core of the Vongola Family?

'_Clearly, there's more validity in that threat. Giotto __**would**__ do dumb things because he'd take it personally,_' G thought.

Picking up the handgun that was left lying on the table to his right, he snapped it open to make sure that all six bullets were loaded.

"There better not be anymore of them showing up to threaten our family or I'll kill them all on sight."

A knock sounded on his door and he rose to open the door. Upon seeing G's royally pissed off facial features, the poor maid immediately cowered and tried to hide herself under her hands. However, in doing so, she revealed the posse of young adults behind her.

G could only stare wide mouthed and wide eyed at them – or rather, just the one brunette that was standing in front of the others.

"Oh hell no."

So _this_ was what Giotto was trying to hide.

**..8.9.**

"I guess just this _once_ I won't reprimand Annalisa for leaving the candelabras out," Alaude muttered to himself as he defended himself with said object.

He had been quite lucky to find the candelabra stand lying obtusely next to an ornate flower pot. Annalisa, one of the maids, had an unnatural habit of forgetting the candelabras that she held whenever she polished vases. It wasn't uncommon, then, for Alaude to notice candelabras lying –according to his peculiar aesthetic cleanliness– amuck within the Vongola mansion. Frustrated, he had tracked down the maid responsible for such a mess and often gave her an earful.

Boy, was it an earful alright.

And it definitely ruffled a few of the Italian skylark's (1) feathers that he had to eat his words, even if it was just once.

"What was that about being 'weighed down'?"

Or twice.

"What is your problem anyway?" Alaude asked in a frustrated tone as he blocked another swing. He was surprised when a secret compartment opened to reveal hooks.

"I don't like crowding."

"Clearly."

"And I'll bite you to death for it."

Guess talking wasn't a good approach. However, Alaude was also not in the mood to be bruised _and_ slashed.

'_This is ridiculous. I'm getting pushed back in my own territory. Che, this hallway isn't wide enough for a proper fight._'

Dodging another slash, the 1st Cloud Guardian winced slightly as the point-end of the hook grazed his cheek. Brushing his fingers against the area, he found it to be bleeding slightly.

'_I have to make towards the Guardian dining room. It's the only place that's wide enough and close enough to me to be a usable resource._'

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

KitsuneFreak: Oh phew! Finally done with this chapter. I think I might've killed some people with the wait time but that's why I'll remind again that it's probably a better idea to story alert my ongoing works. For those that survived, I think I killed them too with another cliffhanger… Sorry! I promise the confrontation is next. It's just that I keep losing the ideas that I had because I've been typing this story sporadically, and ideas get lost that way. DX It's annoying me too that my plot is getting muddled in all this extra meeting fluff, but I needed to set it up so that they all meet.

1 = I'm _serious_. 'Alaude' is a type of skylark in Italian. XD

Momentary FAN-SPAZ, I have found the artwork with ALL the 1st gen Guardians and it's like LEGIT. I mean I've always had the one where you see Giotto, G and Asari and… a part of Knuckle' elbow, but NOW I HAVE THE FULL PIC and ALAUDE YOU LOOK SO COOL IN THE FRONT. =D

While I'm busy putting this on my wall of LJ awesome, please don't forget to…

R&R!

Toodles~


	7. Who's Left Out

KitsuneFreak: And for another installment of TRAT (yes, I'm too lazy to type it out so now I've devised a very un-inspirational acron— _hey_! It spells 'tart' backwards! =D). You know what? I'm just going to call this story "Tart" for short now. Let's all do that shall we? And yes, my darlings, this is the reaction chapter you've all been waiting for! It feels weird to have less and less page breaks as all the characters are coming together.

Sorry for the long wait but I have good news~! (For those who may not chat with me regularly on LJ) I got into college! Yay me! =D And now you know why I haven't been updating. Spring Break feels nice for a change. There had been a question of age in a review or two which I clarified in this chapter. Also, if you haven't caught on yet…

'_Thoughts_'

"Speech"

Disclaimer: It's got to be karma for the 10th Gen, right?

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

Tsuna did not particularly forget the feeling of being dragged by the collar – mostly because he had his fair share of such experiences in his school-years by a certain baby hitman tutor named Reborn. However, being in his early twenties, the young Vongola _boss_ did not exactly welcome the familiar tug nor did he relish the fact that the person dragging him was none other than the 1st Storm Guardian, G.

Resistance was, indeed, futile.

"_Oh carpet, how I've missed you_," Tsuna thought wryly. He had long given up trying to get up, and was forced to content himself with sliding along the said carpet. From this vantage point, he could clearly see his Guardians, who were jogging to keep up – Gokudera was skilled enough to curse out the 1st Storm Guardian while jogging. Ryohei kept commenting on the "extreme-ness" of Tsuna's current mode of travel and Yamamoto couldn't help smiling. Chrome was flustered as usual.

Frowning, Tsuna wondered if the gods really hated him.

"_I'm going to get carpet-burn if he keeps up this pace up. At least the view's nice._"

All the while, G was muttering various profanities, exasperations, and curses to himself. Despite keeping a tight grip on the young boss' collar, he seemed to largely ignore the trailing posse of Guardians and maid. Either that or he hasn't noticed any of them due to his fuming anger which had called first priority. Needless to say, Tsuna was very curious as to what was going on through the redhead's mind but did not particularly feel the impetus to act upon his curiosity.

After all, Lady Luck was _not_ on his side today.

**..8.9.**

"Where could the boss be, anyway?" Lampo complained loudly. His arms and shoulders were getting tired of the extra weight that he alone carried. "And Daemon, I think you should carry this thing for awhile."

"Thing?" Knuckle frowned disapprovingly. "He's a person just like the rest of us Lampo. Best be to remember that."

"I'm sorry, but 'nearly identical doppelganger' is not on my list of viable humans," Lampo grumbled back.

"What about twins?" Daemon asked jokingly.

"Nope. They don't exist in my world."

There was a silence that passed between them as Daemon and Knuckle passed a glance between each other.

"He's in denial," both agreed aloud.

"About _what_?" Lampo asked a little too defensively.

"The possibility that you," Daemon said as he gave a dramatic pause. He continued, "May have an extra sibling to deal with."

"I'm pretty sure my parents are faithful…"

"Well, you wouldn't know, right?" Daemon commented, grinning slyly.

Lampo's features were visibly contorting to an expression of horror and mild disgust.

"Oh stop scaring him, Daemon," Knuckle reprimanded, thwacking Daemon upside the back of his head.

"Dang, what's with the sudden wrath of God over here? That hurt, too," the Mist Guardian ruefully rubbed the back of his head.

"Try not to use His name in vain." The priest frowned disapprovingly, but continued to Lampo much more cheerily, "Wouldn't finding out you had a twin be such a wonderful surprise?"

Now it was Daemon's moment to turn an awkward shade of green. Just the thought of having _two_ Lampo's brought chills to his spine and an ache to his head.

"Tell you what," the illusionist started, "let's take the opportunity we have now to ease Lampo's poor conscience by killing the creature. We'll have a handy number of positive repercussions, too."

He began to list the 'positive repercussions' on his fingers.

"Intrusions can't happen with dead intruders, you know. Lampo can keep his happy world where twins and doppelgangers don't exist, and we don't need to look for Giotto anymore. Problem solved."

"No, Daemon, that's a horrible plan," the priest responded flatly. "We still need to find Giotto."

"Yeah," Lampo agreed resignedly.

Daemon looked at the faces of his two acquaintances before crossing him arms irritatedly.

"Che, whatever, I'm leaving. I have better things to do." Daemon sneered and without another word dissipated into thin illusory air.

"I hate it when he does that," the green haired young man grumbled out loud.

"He probably has his reasons."

"Yes, but so randomly? I swear it's like he's antisocial."

"He comes and he goes. That's how it's always been. You should know this by now."

"It's not like it doesn't bother me though. I always feel as though he's up to something."

"Indeed, but his loyalty to the Vongola is probably the strongest out of all of us."

"He should be loyal to _Giotto_, not the Vongola."

"It's all a matter of opinion in the end. Don't let it bother you too much."

"Whatever."

"Either way, we still must find Giotto. It's getting near dinnertime, let's drop by the dining room and see if they've arrived before us."

"Good plan, but just one minor flaw."

"Hmm?"

"Do you mind carrying him now? I can't feel my shoulder anymore."

Knuckle chuckled slightly at the younger man and obligingly helped shift the weight of the boy off of Lampo.

**..8.9.**

Giotto was calmly sipping coffee when the door burst open, revealing a fuming Storm Guardian. The sound of the door slamming against the wall as it opened startled the man so much so that he almost spilled his cup. Asari was not so lucky with his tea and was yelping in an oddly undignified way beside him. Anyway, when Giotto finally gave himself the opportunity to look up he was torn between a myriad of emotions.

There was the impulse to warn G that despite Asari's good nature, he might attempt murder.

He wanted to exclaim to G that the door was difficult to replace let alone the wall.

He suffered confusion because he honestly didn't know what made G so angry.

He had the sinking feeling that he could guess why though.

He was mortified at the fact that G was _dragging_ _his new guest by the collar._

He felt the need to reprimand G and inform him that dragging people by the collar was rude.

And lastly, if he really stepped back and thought about it, then the whole scene looked quite amusing.

"I believe there is something wrong, G?" Giotto forced out a smile.

Tsuna, who could piece together the situation from his back-faced point of view, only buried his face in his hands.

'_Thank you Captain Obvious._'

At this point, the Tenth Vongola boss could only hope that the Storm Guardian would settle with yelling at his own boss and let go of his collar.

"You had an illegitimate!"

"A wha—"

"And you never _told_ me?"

"Well, hold on just one minu—"

"I wouldn't have _minded_ if you had like a secret marriage or something last minute."

"G, I can exp—"

"I could have been the best man."

'_Wait, __**that's**__ what's been bothering you?_'

Giotto's eye twitched slightly as he put two and two together. Clearly, G came to the wrong conclusion. Still, the first boss waited a little while longer for G to run out of steam, which took a good five minutes. It was during these five minutes that G had opted to let go of Tsuna's collar and gesticulated wildly to complement his anger.

"G," Giotto started, "Let me ask you a question."

"What?"

"How old am I?"

"Um, you're the same age as me, so that would be 32. Why?"

"And you," Giotto looked over to Tsuna, who was brushing carpet dust off his pants, "You are… ?"

"23," Tsuna obliging offered.

"Yes, thank you." Giotto turned back to his perplexed right hand man, "_Now_ do you see the impossibility?"

"What impossibility? If you're 32 and he's 23 then you just had to have had him at arou—"G's voice trailed off as he finished the math. "Oh, good point."

"Yes. Excellent point in my opinion."

**..8.9.**

"We're almost there," Lampo panted when he saw the large double doors of the dining room.

"I'm a little worried, if such a small workout is leaving you this tired, I daresay I may have to talk to Giotto about making your training sessions more difficult," Knuckle commented thoughtfully.

"You wouldn't _dare_."

"It's for your own good."

"Yes, like vegetables," the green haired man drawled sarcastically.

"Those _are_ good for you, Lampo."

"Nothing so good can possibly be so disgusting to my palate."

Knuckle rolled his eyes slightly at the aristocratic manner that Lampo never forgot to uphold himself with. He couldn't help noticing that it was amusingly similar to Daemon's narcissism at some points. Call it bratty but on occasion that was what made both the Mist and Thunder Guardians so amusing – or tiring depending on the mood – to be around. Chuckling to himself, he shifted the weight of the unidentifiable boy over to Lampo.

"I'll open the door for you, alright?"

"Very well."

However, when Knuckle pulled open the door he stiffened immediately upon the sight of a few new faces. One he recognized was that Chrome-girl's. Two others were those friends of hers. The last two he could swear he's never seen before. Giotto had an exasperated look on his face while G was sheepishly stuffing his hands into his pockets. Asari was dabbing at his sleeve trying to get rid of …a tea stain?

'_Situation seems as normal as it can get._'

Switching instantaneously to a more formal demeanor, Knuckle left the door ajar and walked up to announce his presence to the room. "Vongola Primo? A word if you will, there has been an unexpected turn of events."

Knuckle found it odd that the brunette responded similarly to Giotto the moment he said 'Vongola'. Both took on an alert and tense visage. The only difference being that the brunette seemed to relax almost immediately after hearing the second word. Tsuna's subtle actions also caught on the attentions of Giotto, G, and Asari, even if they did not appear to notice.

"Yes?" Giotto asked, brushing off the issue to the back of his mind.

"There is another…" Knuckle opted not to continue his statement. Instead, he moved aside to reveal Lampo carrying his human burden.

Everyone's eyes wandered over to look at the newest addition to the company. Giotto sighed.

"Well, I guess that mea—"

"Lambo-kun!"

Giotto and his Guardians were slightly caught off guard at the exclamation from the brunette as both he and Chrome hurried over.

"So that stupid cow's still alive and kicking, huh?" the silverette said mockingly.

"Haha, that's a relief," Yamamoto laughed.

"Good news to the extreme!"

"What happened?" Chrome asked Lampo worriedly.

"He… uh…hit his head… on the… door… knob," Lampo lied lamely. He didn't particularly feel the desire to comment on the nature of injury that afflicted the child nor did he want to burst a number of happy bubbles.

All of the first generation Guardians in the room resisted the urge to slap their foreheads at the utterly transparent lie.

"Oh, the poor thing," Chrome said sympathetically.

Well, as long as _someone_ bought the lie, it wasn't a complete failure.

"Well," Giotto cleared his throat, "I think it's safe to assume that he's a part of your company, no?"

"Yes, he's with us," Tsuna replied back.

"Are there any more we should be aware of?"

"I don't think so. That's everyone," Tsuna had crossed everyone off of his mental list. Everyone meaning: 'except for Hibari.' After all, he was usually out on his own so what are the odds that he would randomly show up in the Vongola estate causing up another ruckus?

"So why are we here anyway?" Gokudera spat unkindly.

"Now that most of us are gathered here, I believe it would be the perfect time to properly get to know one another."

"A number of things had been forgotten the last time we spoke," Asari continued smoothly.

"You mean 'left out' I believe," G interjected, glaring at Giotto. His boss attempted to shrug off the responsibility of guilt.

"Let's go around the room. We'll start," Giotto motioned to his Guardians before pointing at himself, "I'm Giotto, Sky Guardian and Vongola boss if you haven't already guessed."

Knuckle raised an eyebrow at the informality of using names but offered his name as well, "Knuckle, Sun Guardian. Pleasure to meet you."

"G, Storm Guardian," the redhead did not lose the glare, even as he looked to the younger group.

"Asari Ugetsu, Rain Guardian. My pleasure as well."

"Lampo, Thunder Guardian."

There was a pause as the older Guardians waited expectantly for the newcomers to follow in suit.

"Well, this one here is Lambo," Tsuna gestured to the still unconscious kid, "and I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"Hayato Gokudera."

"Yama—oh my bad. I keep forgetting that it's Italian, Takeshi Yamamoto," he waved the mistake off with a lighthearted chuckle.

"Chrome Dokuro."

"Sasagawa Ryohei! Meeting you to the extreme!"

"Onii-chan!"

"Oi turf-head! It's the other way around in Italian."

"Most extreme mistake to the extreme! I'm Ryohei Sasagawa!"

"Che, light-hearted morons. They never learn," Oddly enough, the glare that Gokudera supplied was directed at not only Ryohei but Yamamoto as well.

From the side, the older Guardians couldn't quite keep away the sense of déjà vu that assailed them as they saw the light bantering that occurred between their guests. It reminded all of them of the bygone years before the Vongola came to be when there was still time to exchange in witty repartee.

"That still doesn't change the fact that I'm still in the dark about what's going on," G suddenly said, almost immediately breaking the mellow mood that had settled over the occupants of the room.

The tenth generation Guardians visibly tensed at this point and shifted their attention to Giotto.

"Well, they're … how shall I put it? They're going to be like our apprentices."

"Apprentices," G responded flatly, not amused. "I've never heard of this before."

"Neither have I, Giotto. What's all this about?" Knuckle asked, quite seriously.

If there was one fatal flaw in the entire story, it was that Giotto never kept secrets from the rest of his Guardians. Interesting how he forgot about this relatively important detail.

"It's true!" Asari supplied quickly, "Giotto's been planning this for awhile now. He wants us to train several young adults in…" At this point Asari, too, was at a loss of how to continue the story.

"… in the ways of the Vongola," Giotto continued.

The other three Guardians mused over the thought.

"You're lying aren't you," Despite the question that was implied, G stated it rather matter-of-factly.

"Wha—I wouldn't dare," Giotto corrected himself.

"He hesitated, didn't he?" Lampo jumped in, nudging Knuckle in the shoulder.  
"Yes, indeed he did."

"You really are a bad liar, you know," G affirmed.

"Many apologies, Giotto," Asari said with his head hung in shame, "I tried my best."

"Ehh, I guess it's alright," Giotto patted Asari's back, "It's better off this way anyway."

"Well that was an epic failure," Gokudera murmured quietly. Chrome nodded her agreement along with Ryohei, and even, Yamamoto.

Despite not verbally agreeing to it, Tsuna couldn't help but concur as well. There was also another tiny voice in his head that kept yelling "Once a no-good always a no-good!" Tsuna never particularly got along well with that depressing side of him and opted to not wonder where his "dame-ness" came from. He figured it was better _not_ to know things. After all, history's much prettier once polished.

It was during this minor squabble that Lambo managed to regain consciousness. "I didn't do it, I swear!"

"Stupid cow, why are you already apologizing? Spit it out, what did you do this time!

Lambo's sudden recovery, caught the eye of the priest.

"Oh look, that little one's awake," Knuckle commented as he took note of the younger group.

"So why are they really here?" Lampo asked curiously.

"They say they're from the future," Giotto replied.

"And I've sprouted wings," G drawled back sarcastically.

"No, seriously!"

"'You believed them?' Is my point."

"Well, you were missing then and misunderstandings were rampant. It was the only excuse we settled with at the time."

"The future. Have you lost your mind?" G felt as though he ought to be tearing out his hair.

"They say they're _our_ successors from the future."

There was a creak from the hinges of the open door. All the occupants of the room couldn't help but feel that it was oddly fitting to the situation but brushed aside the random thought.

"We need some kind of proof," G demanded.

"Word of mouth isn't enough," Knuckle added.

"Well," Asari started, "that was the original reason as to why we wanted everyone to convene here in the first place."

Giotto turned to his guests, "You should have rings, yes? Give us some sort of proof that you know how to use their properties or something. Then we may consider you one of ours."

The rest of the tenth generation Guardians turned to face their boss, Tsuna, who looked at them all and nodded. Chrome, Ryohei, and Yamamoto each reached towards the ring hidden around their necks.

'_So that's where they were hiding it_' Giotto and Asari both thought.

"Who knows of the properties of the rings right now?" Tsuna asked.

"At the moment, no one outside of us, the Guardians."

'_Well, that should make things easier._'

"Let's show them our resolve, everyone!"

Each Guardian put their outstretched right hands flat out in front of them. By concentrating their resolve, they were able to slowly coax a flame of each Guardian's respective color to come forth from the ring. However, Tsuna was the first of the Tenth Generation Guardians to notice it.

There was something wrong.

The flames, despite being bright and strong, were all cloudy. There were not the pure crystalline colors that marked the purity, clarity, and strength of the user's resolve.

Once all six of the flames dissipated, Tsuna tentatively looked to Giotto. If he made a protest now, it would make everything seem like a setup. However, Tsuna knew what the Primo boss' conclusion had been. Tsuna wracked his brains to figure out why the flames color had been what it had been.

'_Was our resolve not enough?_'

"It was a nice little light show there," Giotto commented with a sad look on his face. "I really wanted to believe you."

'_I don't think the rings are the problem,_'

"It eerie how someone managed to create almost similar replicas," Knuckle nodded.

'_Could it have something to do with the fact that we're in the past?_'

"So they were lying," G stated crossly.

'_What could possibly be the problem?_'

"Despite any outward explanation provided, the rings will always reveal what's within," Asari added.

'_Within… wait a minute. That's it!_'

Tsuna tried to reestablish himself among the older Guardians, "Hold on a sec. The rings— we can explain."

"Any excuse you come up with now is a poor one to make up for what just occurred," Knuckle said.

"Yes, but—"

"Give a rest kid, you had your chance," G shot back. "I'll call some of the mafioso on standby. We'll need to have their replicas confiscated."

"There is a…" Tsuna's voice trailed off as he lost the attention of the older men.

"Oi!" Gokudera yelled out impatiently. "Listen to Jyuudaime, already!"

However, before Tsuna could open his mouth to say a word, a jarringly familiar tonfa flew in from the open door … and embedded itself in the wall between where Tsuna and Giotto had conveniently been standing.

"Hiieeek!" Tsuna clamped his mouth shut with his hands. Tsuna cursed habit quite often for these occurrences.

Giotto, on the other hand, was busy multitasking between trying to identify the origin of the weapon and the origin of the horrendously girly shriek. It seemed to come from Tsunayoshi, who stood beside him. In Giotto's humble opinion, that was no sound any dignified and self-respecting man should make. At the very least, it would be a goal that he planned to maintain in the possible future where he had a son.

"Ano," Tsuna shakily asked his unwitting relative, "does anyone else use a tonfa for a weapon here?"

'_I really hope someone does otherwise— _'

"No, why?"

'—_we're all going to die._'

"Because I think I know who's at the door."

"Hey, that weapon looks oddly like Hibari's! How funny!" Yamamoto laughed, clearly missing the gravity of the situation.

"No Yamamoto, that's exactly what is not funny," Tsuna attempted to correct the jovial man.

"Baseball-idiot, if it's Hibari then there's no telling what else can go wrong."

"Let's ask him to spar with us to the extreme!"

"I don't think that's what we want to ask Cloud-man," Chrome commented, trying to tone down Ryohei's sudden enthusiasm.

Much to everyone's surprise, the one who burst, or rather tumbled in, through the door, was not Hibari, but Alaude, the first generation Cloud Guardian.

"Che," was the only word that he offered upon entrance.

"Alaude!" Giotto called out, "Your arm."

Indeed his arm was bleeding slightly. He had taken a bit more damaged from Hibari's hooked and spiked tonfas and a lengthy cut curved its way along the upper area of his arm. Knuckle attempted to rush forward with the intention of treating his wounds on the spot.

"Stay back."

There was a pause as Alaude looked back. Within seconds a second figure flew in through the door with the purpose of pouncing upon the blonde. Alaude wasn't caught off guard this time. Pivoting on his uninjured arm, he threw a kick into Hibari's left side sending the younger man crashing into the wall. Alaude took this opportunity to dart over quickly and kick the remaining tonfa away. Staggering slightly from the force of the kick, Hibari lunged forward to punch Alaude but fell short when the older man caught his fist and used the other to grasp his throat.

"You're too hasty," Alaude frowned, tightening his hold.

"Like that'll work," Hibari sneered. He kicked his leg in order to hit Alaude in the side. Despite missing, the sudden movement caused Alaude to jerk back and let go of his hold upon Hibari – which restarted the fight all over again.

Giotto, at this point, had retrieved his gloves and switched into his Hyper Mode as he took his position next to Alaude and the other older Guardians followed in suit.

"What are you doing? I don't need your help."

"We stand together, Alaude. Besides, you're the one sporting an injury."

"If you're that worried," G smirked, "We'll stand watch here until you call for us with your dying breath."

"As if."

Tsuna did not like where this was going. It was going to be like an all out war if this continued. He wanted to help but without his pills… it was going to be difficult. Nonetheless, he and his Guardians took their places by Hibari's side as well.

"You better not lift a finger. This one is mine."

"Whatever floats your boat, Hibari," Yamamoto grinned before turning to a more serious countenance.

"Hn."

The two Cloud Guardians flew at each other once again, this time with an increase in the number of onlookers. Without his tonfas, Hibari was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Alaude.

Meanwhile, Tsuna was running through with the different scenarios in his head. While he didn't doubt Hibari's prowess in fighting, he worried about the possibility that he may lose. However, if he did win there would be hostilities from the first generation to deal with. There was also no telling if Alaude was a kill-first-then-ask-questions type of a person or not. The nasty conclusions that he came to all involved him jumping in and somehow stopping the fight.

For that matter, Tsuna was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he failed to notice that Hibari was gaining the upper hand. He also didn't notice Giotto tensing up from across the room, especially when Hibari retrieved one of his spiked tonfas from the floor.

As Hibari swiped back and forth with his tonfa, Alaude was constantly pushed on the defensive. He wouldn't have been able to dodge the downward swipe. He closed his eyes to brace himself for the hit that never came. Surprised, he looked up to see Giotto blocking the tonfa with his flaming gloves.

"Get lost, it's my fight."

"Tell me that when you're not losing."

"Che," Alaude spat back.

Giotto threw a kick in Hibari's direction, which sent the younger Cloud Guardian jumping back.

"You'll do," Hibari smirked.

"Cocky aren't you?" Giotto asked.

Whether it be because Giotto's fighting capabilities was higher than that of Hibari's or the fact that Hibari started this particular confrontation already fatigued from his earlier spat with Alaude, it did not change the immediate advantage Giotto had over him. Therefore, it was only a matter of time before Hibari was thrown against the wall again. Giotto was about to deliver the finishing blow when another set of orange flames that were not his own, came into his periphery. The newcomer, Sawada Tsunayoshi had taken a hold of the punch that was supposed to hit Hibari.

"I think that's enough," Tsuna said. Giotto did not fail to notice that his eyes turned from a chocolate brown to a bright golden-orange shade – much like his own. There was also a flame that had ignited on his forehead.

"Well this is unexpected."

Tsuna and Giotto met hand to hand – each tried to force the other back with brute strength.

'_X-gloves versus I-gloves. How lovely,_' Tsuna thought sarcastically. '_I can see that this is going to end well._'

"What the hell is going on?" G voiced the opinions of quite a number of people at this point.

"You have gloves?" Giotto asked Tsuna uncertainly.

"More or less."

Giotto also took the time to notice that the flames emitted now were much purer. Without the medium of the Vongola ring, it seemed as though the flames took on a clearer manifestation.

"Your flames appear purer than before."

"I've been trying to tell you that for a while now, actually."

Both separated from each others' grasp but considering the fact that they were still embroiled in battle commentary and conversation still flew between them. For that matter, Giotto took the battle into the air and Tsuna followed in suit.

"Oh? Now that we've made a time and place for chatter, would you mind telling me about it?"

"The flames weren't pure because of the rings."

"I figured as much. But you had claimed that they're the originals."

"Yes but they lack something, now that we're in the past."

"May I ask what that is?"

"Your wills."

Giotto looked back unexpectedly as he puzzled over the meaning of what Tsuna had said.

"Our… wills?"

"Yes. In our time, your wills possess these rings. They are what bolster our original resolve. However… that can't happen now that we're in the past and you're physically… here."

Giotto mulled over what the brunette had said. "What you're saying is that the problem is that we're alive."

Tsuna inwardly cursed at the negativity of his explanation, "That's not a problem at all! It's good that you're alive. Everyone ought to be alive and well."

"Then why do you fight?" Giotto was honestly curious.

"To protect the people who I care about because they're my friends – my family, if you will – and we'd do anything for each other."

Slowing down, Giotto used his gloves to lower himself down gradually. Tsuna, sensing a sudden lull in the battle aura present, also made a gradual descent downwards.

When both reached the ground, they each released themselves from their Hyper Modes.

"Let's try this again," Giotto said quietly. "Who are you people?"

**..8.9.**

Staring at the ticking second hand of the clock, Shoichi couldn't help but tap the table with his finger nervously.

"It's been twenty minutes."

"Don't worry, Kyo-san wouldn't abandon us," Kusakabe offered again.

"Where is he now?"

"According to the security system, he hasn't left his room."

"Should we check up on him?"

"I don't think that'd be a good idea…"

Shoichi gave another glance at the security cameras that gave a pixilated view of the outside of the estate.

"I think we can spare a few minutes. Even if Hibari doesn't like us crowding around him, it's important for us to know where everyone is right now; especially when we have no idea where the others are."

Heaving a sigh, Kusakabe turned to open the door and lead the way to Hibari's office. Shoichi, who was trailing behind, was continually thinking about possible reasons as to why the enemy would have pulled their forces from the forefront of the battle. It was only in the recent months that this family appeared out of seemingly nowhere. There was no lengthy family history or sudden, but noticeable, rise to power. If a family could embody the meaning of the role of the Mist element, then clearly _this_ was the prime example.

Their aggression against the Vongola was equally unexpected. A letter, marked only with their seal and crest, was delivered to Tsuna's office. The contents of the letter demanded unconditional surrender ("As if!" Shoichi scoffed at the memory) and relinquishment of all the Vongola rings. Needless to say, there was no agreement between the two families and Tsuna was left constantly perplexed at the other family's unwarranted hostility.

The sudden décor change of his surroundings announced to Shoichi that they were getting closer to Hibari's office. Unlike the rest of the Guardians, Hibari, being the solitary cloud, preferred to work within the precincts of his Foundation. He rarely dropped by the estate under casual pretenses.

Once they neared the workplace of the Cloud Guardian, Shoichi immediately noticed that the door was slightly ajar.

"You're sure he didn't leave?"

"Absolutely – unless he left while we were walking over here."

"Well that wouldn't work out either because we'd meet him along the way."

"Indeed."

Pushing the door open revealed an empty room. White noise was playing slightly in the background from the two small speakers that were on the desk. Shoichi had to admit, the white noise definitely raised the eeriness level of the room up several notches – not that it wasn't creepy enough already since the fact that it was Hibari's territory already left chills running down his spine.

"You know the layout of Hibari Kyouya's office right?"

"Yes, I helped him in designing the entirety of the Foundation."

"So that leaves secret exit route off the list of possibilities."

Kusakabe strolled over to the desk and shut off the speakers. "Wonder what he was trying to listen to."

"Who knows? This is Hibari we're talking about."

Kusakabe chose to remain silent – it wasn't yet necessary to divulge unnecessary details. Shoichi never caught on to the unusual pause in conversation and continued to look around the desk. Nothing seemed to be out of order. Paperwork was left on the desk neatly. The chair was pushed back slightly. Windows were closed and definitely not broken. Overall, nothing seemed out of the ordinary to the redheaded technician. That is, until the window latch caught his eye.

"Last question."

"Yes?"

"Does Hibari Kyouya know any magic tricks?"

Kusakabe blinked as he turned back to look at Shoichi who was staring intently at the closed window.

"Is that a joke, sir?"

"No."

"Well, I'm pretty sure that's a negative, why?"

"Because I don't think there's any way he could have left from the window and locked it… _from the inside_."

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom...}

KitsuneFreak: And that concludes another chapter of Tart! This is the longest chapter yet but I felt the need to fit a lot into this segment. I'm going off to post up another chapter for my family fic right now. If I haven't done so already, I feel as though I should take this particular moment to thank all my awesome readers!

Alright, a show of hands please: who actually did the math during the little squabble between Giotto and G? Or were you one of those people who would read it all, wonder why there was something wrong, go back and _then_ do the math? XD I also snicker every time I think of Giotto's I-gloves. I feel as though it should be an Apple product.

I'm also curious; does anyone know what generation of boss Dino Cavallone is? Is he a ten like Tsuna or some other number? I can't seem to find it at the moment.

Toodles~!

R&R


	8. Chaos as Usual

KitsuneFreak: Excuse me, but Imma cry because it's been so long since my last update. Fanfiction has changed quite a bit! (well, at least the manage document settings have)

I apologize profusely but I had a number of RL issues to deal with, mostly college and getting back into the writing mojo because it's really hard to come back to the original mindset of a story when you've left it for a while. Before anyone panics, I fully intend to complete both this story and my other KHR comedy-sitcom-like-slice-of-life-thing. I'm still working on what that's _supposed_ to be.

I know that a consistent writing error of mine is verb tense and please bear with me on that one. I'm trying to make it all flow now after a reviewer pointed it out to me. If you still catch some, please tell me!

Disclaimer: Uhh, I take Italian now? I don't know if that helps in procuring rights…

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

"Alright, I'm going to need another three bottles of alcohol before I believe _that_ story."

"G, can you please be a little more obliging?" Giotto sighed, exasperated.

"It _is_ a bit outlandish, ne?" Asari agreed.

Tsuna let out a great sigh and ran both of his hands through his hair. It was getting ridiculous. He'd probably explained the situation at least five times already, and this was just counting the time taken to eat dinner.

"Look, I'd really like to help you understand us, believe in us, but you need to know that I can't put this any other way. The only thing I can offer is to ask you to put yourselves in our shoes. If you were picked up randomly, in a time of battle, and transported into the past, what would _you_ say?"

"He has a point, you know," Knuckle agreed out loud.

"I know he does, it's just that the threats are putting all of us on edge," Giotto twirled his fork absent-mindedly in the spaghetti. "How's everyone else taking this?"

"Che, pathetic."

"I suppose if they're not a threat, I can't say I exactly mind," Asari murmured thoughtfully.

"Lampo? What about you?"

"Your call, boss."

"G?" Giotto looked to his right-hand man.

"Like he said, your call." G sighed resignedly.

Giotto took a final look over all of his Guardians, and then the newcomers.

'_My call, huh? That's not a comforting thought. I've always seemed a bad judge of character. G's reprimanded me a few times on being too kind. But… please don't prove me wrong. I want to still believe that there are still good people in the world'_

"Well, then." Giotto cleared his throat. "It is my decision that we take you in as our friends, as our family, treat you hospitably. We may aid each other in times of need and hold a steadfast faith in each other. While it may not be much, I offer you all, my trust. Let me not regret this decision."

The entire room, it seemed, let out a massive sigh of relief. A weight seemed to be lifted of everyone's shoulders.

"Haha! Well that settles it!" Yamamoto laughed jovially.

"Extremely good news!"

"Yes," Tsuna smiled as he looked gratefully at the first boss, "thank you."

"Sorry to break into the festivities, but we are still Vongola," G interrupted matter-of-factly. "While I can accept taking everyone in with open arms, be warned I still carry a gun."

"G-san is right. With impending attack at our doorstep, we can't sit around."

"May we ask for your help, Tsunayoshi?" Giotto looked towards the brunette.

"Definitely, and maybe it'll help us get back home too."

The rest of dinner seemed to pass relatively uneventfully. Asari and Yamamoto almost immediately got together to talk about Japan. Alaude and Hibari spent most of dinner glaring at each other much to the discomfort of Lampo who attempted to flirt with Chrome who was too busy attending to Lambo (the young teen ate almost as messily as Dino at times). Not to be outdone, Ryohei got into a verbal brawl with Gokudera and somehow managed to insult G at the same time. G, not being one to be insulted, drew his handgun on two occasions when he finally learned that 'tako' meant octopus, and Giotto was forced to confiscate said weapon before someone got hurt. Tsuna and Knuckle found camaraderie in the fact that both just prayed for peace and quiet.

Needless to say, it was chaos as usual.

**..8.9.**

"So that makes what now? _All_ of the members of Vongola family?" Shoichi dropped his head on the table with a painfully loud 'thunk'.

"There's still Mukuro?" Fuuta offered helpfully.

"Yes, who is currently unconscious for unknown reasons in the infirmary. That makes the situation _so_ much better."

"Sorry."

Shoichi sighed into the table before turning his head to look at Fuuta. The cool table felt so nice against his ear and the redhead debated whether or not he should just nap his worries away. Then again, that was unhelpful.

"No, I should be the one to apologize. Right now, we need to figure out what's going on. Put the facts together, or strategize, or something."

"What about the fighting? They're retreating now, but we won't know how long that'll last," Kusakabe asked, not turning away from the monitors.

"Speaking of which, shouldn't Reborn be here? I mean, I know he's got his hitman business to attend to but seriously this is getting ridiculous."

A silence hung over the room as the redheaded technician mulled over the possibilities.

"Are you thinking of calling them?" Kusakabe asked, looking over at the pensive man.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Them?" Giannini asked perplexed, "Who's 'them'?"

"Oh no," Fuuta's light bulb blinked as he registered who they were talking about. "No, no, no. That's the worst plan ever."

"They're good fighters."

"I don't care! They're the worst to depend on!"

"I admit that they're questionable but technically they still see the Vongola as the only family."

"Yeah, given that they've got three countries worth of canon fodder, steak, and alcohol."

"Now, now Fuuta…"

"Wait, who are we talking about!"

"The Varia."

**..8.9.**

Chrome barely stifled a yawn. She was most certainly tired. After dinner the older Guardians said that they had a few matters to attend to before turning in for the night. Tsuna's group, with the helpful guidance of the maid, Annalisa, made their way back to their guest rooms.

After reaching her room and closing the door behind her, she gave a small sigh of relief. The day had been more taxing than it seemed.

"Thank god everything's settled," she murmured to herself. Smiling slightly, she gave a little stretch when something caught here eye. It was a familiar little metal case on her dresser.

"Odd. I don't think Bossu ever came into my room-?"

A sudden cool draft blew from seemingly out of nowhere and Chrome shivered at the eerie light mist that crept in from under the door.

"Mukuro-sama? Is that you?" Chrome called out tentatively. Was it another one of his unexpected tricks? Maybe to keep her on her toes?

A ghostly chuckle echoed throughout the room, "I don't think so."

Chrome tensed immediately as the first Mist Guardian suddenly appeared to her left. What startled her was the fact that he put his face right next to hers in a way that was clearly invasive to her personal bubble space.

Stepping back quickly, she asked "Wh—what do you want?"

But he was gone. Chrome blinked and turned around, only to find Daemon Spade directly in front of her. His tall form towered over her and she had to look up slightly to actually meet his eyes.

"Good job noticing my gaffe."

Chrome couldn't help but back away slowly. Unfortunately, there was only so much distance before she found herself backed to the wall. Once there, ice seemed to freeze from the ground, up to her waist and rendered most of her body immobile so she could not get away. He roughly grabbed her chin, tipped her face upwards and turned it to the left, and to the right.

"More than the average girl, I presume?"

Chrome shrunk back into the wall in terror.

"You're quite an interesting thing to look at," Daemon smirked at the fact that this girl feared him, "Missing eye, a pronged weapon for a friend, what else? Maybe an illusionist?"

He noticed Chrome's widening eye that conveyed her surprise as well as confusion.

"You wonder how I know this? I had been watching from the doorway of the dining room and, well, I noticed that out of all your… little friends… you were the only one back there in the dining room that displayed the mist flames from your ring. Now, where did you learn it?"

Chrome closed her eye tightly and managed to jerk away, thus releasing herself from his grip and shattering the ice around her. Daemon was amused at her antics but opted to watch her reaction. She was strong and had experience with medium level illusions – no average person could have released themselves from his illusory ice. It puzzled him when a strange calmness seemed to take over her body almost immediately. A different kind of mist began to engulf her. It started to swirl around her feet and rose with each circular motion. The first Mist Guardian pulled back quickly – he knew that the mist was not of his own creation. Illusions, as with most things, tend to leave some kind of identification marker and this one was most definitely not his own.

"Oya, oya. I don't really like other people messing around with my things."

_A man's voice?_

Daemon tensed and willed for the mist to dissipate and show him this new development. Providence was kind to him and soon a young man stood before him. Although he was quite similar to the girl in appearance, a noticeable difference was that instead of an eye patch, his right eye was a luminous red with what appeared to be a symbol of a rudimentary star in the center.

"What new illusion is this?" the older man asked.

"Oh, it's no illusion, I can assure you that I'm very much here."

"Are you the source of her power?"

Mukuro gave a wry smile, "No."

A trident materialized in the younger man's hand and he charged at Daemon who blocked the collision with his cane. With their noses almost touching Mukuro grinned again.

"Kufufu, shouldn't you be somewhere else?"

Now it was Daemon's turn to be on the verbal defensive.

"What do you mean?"

"Well you clearly were present at _dinner_."

"So?"

"You _must_ know about the truce."

"Look who's attacking."

"I'm merely defending what is mine."

"And so am I."

"Seems we have something in common then."

Mukuro backed up and rested the trident on his shoulder while Daemon took the opportunity to get some distance as well.

"Point taken," Daemon commented, "there _was_ a truce, wasn't there?"

"Indeed."

"Well then, I'll leave you to your own devices."

Turning to the door, he quickly jerked it open.

"Daemon Spade, pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Mukuro Rokudo, and the pleasure is all mine."

And the door slammed shut.

'_Mukuro-sama? What was that all about?'_

"Hush Chrome," Mukuro said aloud, "I think he may be useful to us later. After all, a Vongola Mist Guardian must have some skills worth his rank."

**..8.9.**

"Where is that damn illusionist!" G snapped angrily, lighting a cigarette.

"Do it at the window," Giotto responded, not even bothering to look up from his paperwork.

As G dutifully grumbled over to the open window behind Giotto, the rest of the Guardians sat in pairs on the two couches. Lampo crossed his legs on the coffee table next to Knuckle while Asari took his seat next to Alaude.

"Yes, but knowing _him_," Lampo muttered with a frown, "he already knows what we know if not more."

"I do know him, which is why I want us all here to collaborate on what we have learned," Giotto calmly responded.

"How do you even know he will be here?" Knuckle asked worriedly. "He may have just gone somewhere else or perhaps to bed."

"Knuckle, you and I both know that Daemon is not one to do that and…" Giotto grinned a bit as he looked up, "have a little faith in him. He's not that bad."

A short silence hung about the room and almost, as if on cue, the doors opened and slammed shut, bringing in a very disgruntled looking Mist Guardian.

"Daemon, glad you could join us," Giotto smiled.

"Good call Giotto-san!" Asari laughed. Alaude rolled his eyes before glaring pointedly at the newcomer.

"Well, any news?" Alaude asked impatiently.

"The girl's got some kind of other visage or person."

"He's made his appearance again?" Asari asked worriedly. "Didn't Tsunayoshi-san call him Muka or something?"

"His name is apparently Mukuro Rokudo," Daemon responded flatly, taking a seat next to Lampo.

"Well, I haven't seen this fellow, but it sounds like he only shows up whenever Chrome does," Lampo mused.

"Aye," Knuckle agreed, giving a sidelong glance at the green-haired man, "He also appeared to us when Chrome was present."

"If we count them separately, that makes eight little brats," G flicked ash out the window.

"That's amazing G," Lampo commented, "I finally feel complimented, you usually call me the brat even though it's just a 3 year difference between us."

"Shut up, you're still the brat. Your temporary title is older brat."

Lampo just rolled his eyes.

"Focus, please," Alaude muttered in irritated tone.

"Still, what are we going to do with these kids?" Knuckle asked.

"It's much too early for them to help us out with the Cavallone problem," Asari added

"I agree," Giotto mused. "But they'd be idle; wouldn't it be best to ease them into it? They, if what they say is true, know nothing of our era. Not of the squabbles nor of who is good or bad. It's dangerous to let them to their own devices. I worry for them."

"Then teach them," Daemon broke the silence. "Give them what they need to be useful."

"Let me remind you Daemon that they're still people, not tools."

Daemon sighed at his boss' disdain, "I mean, _let them prove their worth_, how's that re-phrasal?"

"I hate to agree but that would be the best solution right now," Alaude readjusted himself comfortably and crossed his arms.

"So what?" G asked. "Show up bright and early at their doors tomorrow?"

"That would be the best case," Knuckle considered.

"It would be better if we took charge over the younger one that matches our element," Asari added.

"That's absolutely wonderful." Lampo groaned sarcastically. "I get paired up with the teenager. He's really just a child. What am I going to do to guide _him_?" He then slammed his palm to his forehead in a most dramatic manner.

"That's what you get for being born last," G responded with a smug on his face.

"At least I'm not stuck with hot-tempered number two. Make sure you don't kill him before nightfall."

""Why you—."

"Still," Lampo continued, "I'm rather jealous of Daemon."

"Why me?"

"You get the cute one."

"I suppose…."

"Well, I liked Takeshi-san. Cheerful fellow."

"My charge seems to like extreme things—"

"I'm getting a headache from nonsensical talk. I'm leaving." Alaude snapped. Standing abruptly, he brushed off invisible specks of dust and made for the door.

"Ahem," Giotto cleared his throat loudly in annoyance. Alaude paused for only a second. "Just remember to take care of your new charge in the morning. Same goes for the rest of you."

"Hai, hai."

"God willing, tomorrow will go well."

"This will be hell."

"She'll be interesting."

"I think I'll just sleep in."

Giotto shook his head at al his Guardians' responses. No matter what they said, he knew that they would still be responsible enough to get the job done. _How_ they get it done is another matter altogether, but tomorrow will be interesting indeed. He cleaned up the papers on his desk into piles of completed and incomplete. Giving a final once over of his office, he left and locked the door behind him.

"I wonder what Tsunayoshi is like?"

**..8.9.**

Sunlight streamed in through the curtains and fell over the eyes of the young Vongola boss and prompted him to stir. Years with Reborn as his tutor had made him painfully sensitive to sunlight on his face after a good night's sleep – well, not sunlight per se, but more of Reborn's merciless kicks to the head to awaken him. Even after leaving the hit man's tutelage, Tsuna could not help but wince at the conditions. He preferred waking up to an alarm clock in a darkened room.

"_But Reborn's not here, right?_" Tsuna thought to himself as he turned on his side.

He yawned.

He stretched.

And tossed.

And turned.

Before he tumbled straight out of bed.

And onto the floor.

"Gah, this is getting ridiculous! Reborn's not even _here_, why can't I enjoy a morning sleep-in?" Tsuna reached up and felt around before he pulled a pillow down from the bed in order to curl up with it some more.

"Haven't felt this out of place in a while," Tsuna mused to himself. The incident in the alternate future timeline where the Millefiore wreaked destruction almost seemed like a distant dream.

But this.

This was very real.

Giving the pillow in front of him one last longing look, he threw it onto the bed and heaved himself up. He tried to stretch his arms behind him as he made his way for the bathroom but the sudden jerk of pain made him think twice about persisting.

"Ow, ow, ow, okay okay. Bad idea. Really bad idea. Ow."

Tsuna sighed and mentally told himself that he should check up with the Sun Guardian later to see if he could do anything about the injuries he had sustained from the night before. In the meantime, he was careful not to make any wide movements that would have prompted more pain. Washing and dressing himself took twice as long as usual but in the end he managed to come out of the bathroom and walk-in closet relatively unscathed – well, at one point he nearly slipped on the tile but he managed to avoid falling. He took a quick look at himself in the full-body mirror. Informal grey pants and a simple white button up shirt. Tsuna eyed at a pair of braces wrapped neatly in a bundle. He decided to forgo the braces for the sake of his own dignity and instead opted to roll up his sleeved midway up his forearm to make himself seem more casual.

Feeling that he was aptly dressed to re-explore his own Vongola mansion – or it will be his, ten generations down the line – he made his way toward the door.

"I should probably check up on everyone else as well. They'd probably be up too. "

He was confident in the opening of the door, as well as sure of stepping out into the hallway. Unfortunately, the only thing he didn't count on was coming face to face and colliding in a heap on his own kin.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry," Tsuna apologized, panic driving his voice higher on the octave scale.

Giotto, though stunned, managed to chuckle despite the sudden dearth of air. "Not to worry, although I would appreciate it if you were to get off of me first."

However, before Tsuna could push himself off of the blonde, he felt an all-too-familiar tug on his collar. The force from the yank threw him back into the doorway that he previously exited. Well, that was quite unfortunate.

"Off the boss, you heard the man."

"It's alright G, he just failed to see me that's all."

"How can you possibly fail to see an entire body?"

"I suppose it happens."

Giotto picked himself up off the ground and brushed off any possible specks of dust. Then, he offered a hand to the younger man still gawking from the doorway.

"You alright there?"

"Uh, yeah… Yeah."

Tsuna took the hand and pushed himself up, also mimicking Giotto's brushing motion. He noticed a small distance away, Yamamoto trailing Asari.

"Yo! Tsuna!"

"Morning Yamamoto-kun!"

"I'm dressed already, so shut up!"

"Gokudera-kun!"

"Oh, good morning Jyuudaime!"

"Bossu? Did you knock?"

Chrome peeked her head out of her room. Daemon was casually leaning against the wall next to the door and observed the entire incident with an amused look on his face.

"It was I who knocked, _carina_."

The subtle look that fell on Chrome's face when she saw the owner of the voice almost caused Tsuna to snort to himself. She clearly looked like she'd rather slam the door shut – preferably in the older illusionists face.

"Giotto, hot tempered number one isn't in his room, so I'll just resume my normal duties," came a voice from further down the hallway.

"Just make sure you find him eventually, Alaude."

"Hn."

"OWW!"

Everyone who was currently circled around the two Vongola bosses turned towards the source of the yell in alarm. They were met with a curious sight.

Lampo was walking Lambo over to where they were by means of dragging the teenager by the ear. The older bore the expression of utter boredom while the younger was near the point of tears.

"Next time, just get up kid."

"That's such an EXTREME way to wake up in the morning!"

"Onii-san!"

"That also seems painful. Lampo, do keep in mind that the next time you shirk training, I can use the same method of punishment."

"But Knuckle—!"

"Do unto others… if you kept that in mind, you wouldn't have this predicament." Knuckle responded, his eyes glinting in amusement.

"Well," Giotto started eyeing his increased posse, "today you'd be following the other Guardian of your element. We'll try the best we can to inform you of the current situations so that you would have some background. We'd likely meet later on today for dinner but until then every pair is relatively off on his or her own. So play nice."

G snorted and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"Alright kid, you and me, we'll be circling the mansion. Might as well finish last night's job." G paused for a second to look at Giotto. "Any objections?"

"None at all. Go ahead."

At this point, Knuckle was already leading an extremely excited Ryohei down the halls and Asari was asking if Yamamoto wanted to practice sparring with him to warm up for the day. Lampo still dragged a crying Lambo off muttering to himself about "chess". Chrome warily followed a smug-looking Daemon while Alaude had long wandered off to 'resume his duties', whatever that may have been.

"Tsunayoshi?"

"Hmm?" Tsuna perked up at the Primo's use of his full first name. "Call me Tsuna. Tsunayoshi's way too formal for me."

"Alright then Tsuna." Giotto paused a moment to let the nickname sink in. "You and I will have a nice stack of office-work to look forward to."

"Great," Tsuna sighed quietly in defeat as he followed after the older boss.

Giotto couldn't help but grin and feel a little more satisfied that at least someone was going to be sharing in his paper-related misery. It was a bit of a cruel sentiment, but it felt nicely refreshing. That and the fact that G wouldn't be hovering over his desk with a gun pointed at him was also another bonus.

G really did have some strange methods of terrifying the boss into paperwork.

**..8.9.**

"I don't get it!" Dino grumbled. Reborn sat on the table next to him and calmly sipped his coffee.

"You clearly haven't told Tsuna about the situation," Reborn said calmly.

"Of course not!"

"If word gets out that they fly a flag that's under the wing of the Cavallone Famiglia, all the alliances will get very tense – especially because the Cavallone and the Vongola have the best relations. Who knows what the less amiable alliances will come to?"

"I know, but they're not my guys. Reborn, I'm being really honest when I say that even _I'm_ not really sure what's going on."

"That is a problem."

"All I know is that they call themselves the _Cavalieri Famiglia_. Here, look at this letter signed in their crest – which according to them is an early version of ours."

Dino chose to, at that point, pull a letter from one of the drawers of his desk and handed it to Reborn. Upon the front of the letter a black stallion with its forelegs high in the air framed in lobelia flowers. The stoic hit man wasted no time in opening the letter and reading its contents.

"Have you checked up the crests?"

"I went through our family's archives. It seemed to be one of the rejected designs from way back; it was only mentioned once as a description in passing. The biggest clue-in was the lobelias. It's an unusual flower to use in any crest design. If it weren't for those, I would have come up with a blank. Either someone has access to detailed records and is cruelly pulling our leg or they're really Cavallone."

"What did that record say when it mentioned this crest?"

Dino put a finger to his lip as his face scrunched up in order to recall what he had read. "Lobelias would be an unsightly use for a crest for we love mercy not malevolence. Unfortunately, Bonaro's plan must be discarded."

Reborn went silent for a moment as he continued perusing the letter's contents. "So they say that they were a division of the Cavallone and broke off when they found it going towards the wrong path."

"Have you read up to the part of the 'immortal enemies, the Vongola' part?" Dino sarcastically commented with rolled eyes.

"Hmm, yes."

"Wonderful sense of wit, they seem to have."

"What's more interesting is this part: _We, of the Cavalieri, wish for you to give us your blessings on our crusade against the Vongola. We wait in earnest and hope that you not make the wrong choice like your predecessor before you. The time to strike is now, when we have them in our grasp. Finally we can achieve our dream and construct a new family from the ashes of our enemies._"

"Yeah, and you wonder why I don't like to reply to these kinds of letters. No return address either."

"It's signed by a Bonaro."

Dino paused and looked over Reborn's shoulder and frowned, "Can't be the same guy. It's been at least ten generations going by that record."

"They also mention your predecessor."

"But the old man said nothing of the Cavalieri, this is the first time I've heard of them. Reborn?"

"There's something different about this generation. Something causing them to go on the attack."

"Tsuna's a good boss. I don't see a problem yet… He's steering the Vongola on the right path."

"He may be too good of a boss in the eyes of these… Cavalieri. You said ten generations?"

"Yeah."

"That sets the original source of this problem during the Primo's time."

"I should send some of my men over to the Vongola mansion then, to help them in case of an attack."

"You can't, you don't even know if your men are in on it."

"But—"

"You need to first weed out the Cavalieri."

Dino knew that Reborn was right. Sending men over to the Vongola mansion could very well be a go-ahead for these Cavalieri and he didn't want to set off an attack if it could be avoided. At this point, any move that they made would be a blind one and Dino wasn't intent on stumbling straight into trouble.

**..8.9.**

The first two hours of the morning had gone by relatively uneventfully for Tsuna and Giotto. They split the pile of paperwork between them and Tsuna's temporary workspace was the couch and coffee table. A quick and short demo was all that it took for Tsuna to get into the paperwork. Surprisingly, the official procedure of desk work changed little over the course of several hundred years. It wasn't until one of the names on the reports caught his eye that he decided pitch in a question.

"Uh, Giotto?"

There was a sudden pause to the constant scritch-scratching of a quill on parchment.

"Yes? Did you need any help?"

"No, but I'm just wondering about the contents of the report. It's on alliances."

Giotto sighed as he put the quill down. "I suppose you _would_ want to know about the Vongola's current relations."

"Yeah, about that. This report says that we've made three attempts at an alliance with the Cavallone?"

'_Not bad, he said "we" when referring to the Vongola_' Giotto thought in passing.

"Yes, unfortunately, the Cavallone are not seeing eye to eye with us and consistently reject the offer. It tends to be violent as well. There have been a number of injuries just resulting from meetings."

"Injuries from meetings?" Tsuna quirked an eyebrow at the older boss.

In particular, they wish to crush us and take control of all the families."

"Wait, wait, hold on a minute," Tsuna asked suddenly. "We're not friends yet?"

Tsuna clamped his mouth shut and swore at himself in all the languages he knew for letting that one word slip. He recalled reading books and watching movies where if someone so much as _breathed_ the wrong way then he was capable of changing the entire future. After having saving the worlds once, he wasn't planning on doing it again because he created an early apocalypse by means of one word. He just hoped Giotto didn't catch onto his little slip-up.

Giotto looked incredulously and the brunette, "Of course not! Goodness, if we were friends that would have solved most of our problems now. They've been our rival family for almost the past decade."

"We're talking about the _Cavallone _Famiglia_,_ right?"

"There is only one family under that name. Although…" Giotto looked up in thought, "the fanatics that hate us the most call themselves the _cavalieri_."

"Right," Tsuna nodded to himself. It appears as though the blonde missed his slip up. "I guess I need to keep that in mind."

"Please do, we don't need any more casualties. They're onto members of the Vongola like hounds to a fox. It's really disheartening."

"So…" Tsuna started, "any plans to get together with them? Successfully, I mean?"

"Well, this rivalry has been going on for quite some time between up now. It seems that some of the Cavallone, particularly the non-fanatics, are growing weary."

"So that's why you have a record of the three attempts at an alliance."

"Exactly. But so far, it seems like we may just have to wait longer. The cavalieri hold most of the assets the family has and they don't look like they're going to release it any time soon. They'd rather use it to create war on the other families."

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

KitsuneFreak: That's a wrap for this chapter! Apologies if it's not on par with the other chapters, I'm still getting back into the groove. Not as traumatic of a cliffhanger either, but I just wanted to get this chapter out and rolling. EDIT: I have proofread and wow, I really _was_ half asleep at some parts. And a nice reviewer has informed me of my consistent name-spelling error. I have actually gone back through all the chapters to fix Knuckle. Not Knuckles.

Fun story tidbit of the day comes from the fact that I'm going to smudge a little bit on wording since I know Italian and the fanatical group name that I put up is just really another variation of the name cavallone (which, in this case does _not_ mean breaker, although that is a hilarious to note). The word cavallone itself, likely comes from _il cavallaro_ if not _i_ _cavalieri_ — both of which mean horse dealer and knights respectively.

EDIT: A few people have asked what _carina_ was as I had failed to define it earlier. Normally, it means sweet/nice/pretty. Italians often use it as a nickname in cases where boyfriends use this to address their girlfriends, parents to children, or adults to children. How Daemon intends it completely depends on your interpretation of Daemon's character.

In other news, I have a Tumblr under the same nickname and feel free to follow me if you'd like. I'd actually guarantee a response if you were to ask me a question there than through a review. It's also a good way to get your headcanons in if you really want me to try and write up a silly scene or oneshot. Be advised I don't do romance of any kind. PMs are good too, it's just that FF has such a tedious method of replying and I don't want to take up actual story-posting space to respond. EDIT: surprisingly, I'm liking FF's new modifications, replying is _much_ easier now.


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